<\/p>\n
Near the end of the Mississippi River, not too far removed from the faint hums of downtown New Orleans jazz, you can find VFW Post 8973 \u2014 a place that understands how music can move us in powerful ways.<\/p>\n
One night in the fall of 2023, while at a Post event, Post 8973 members Chet Pierson and Jason Davey were discussing ways to address veteran suicide, as well as ways to increase veterans\u2019 access to mental health resources.<\/p>\n
Knowing that veterans often feel isolated when transitioning from the military back to civilian life, Pierson and Davey wanted to create an environment that welcomed veterans facing these challenges \u2014 one that reinforced that it\u2019s okay to seek mental health resources such as therapy.<\/p>\n With their musical background and living in a city famous for its musical heritage, Pierson and Davey wanted to infuse live music into their message with the idea that music could help people find an outside connection.<\/p>\n And so, Vet Jams was born.<\/p>\n BY VETERANS, FOR EVERYONE<\/strong> \u201cWe don\u2019t call ourselves a band, but rather a community of veterans and musicians,\u201d Davey said. \u201cBy creating weekly meetups and shows, we encourage social interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Davey, Pierson, Cantu and Doughty make up the core of Vet Jams, any veteran, musician or civilian is more than welcome to join. Even those who aren\u2019t experienced with any instruments are welcomed onto the stage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe once had a veteran just tap drumsticks together,\u201d Post 8973 Commander Gaby Swanson said.<\/p>\n Davey credits all of the musicians they\u2019ve worked with over the years, helping increase the reach of their message.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had more than 20 different musicians play with Vet Jams over the past three years,\u201d Davey said. \u201cIt takes a village, and with all the input and\u00a0support from not only veterans, but our community, we\u2019ve played more gigs and expanded our messaging reach.\u201d<\/p>\n Swanson elaborated on the welcoming nature of Vet Jams.<\/p>\n \u201cI can just come to a Vet Jams session and know that there is that immediate camaraderie, and I know that I can be comfortable expressing myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Vet Jams is known for covering all kinds of music at their shows. From Texas-style country music such as Robert Earl Keen to alternative rock and New Orleans blues, the band members experiment with all kinds of genres.<\/p>\n EXPANDING THEIR SOUND<\/strong> \u201cOur long-term vision is to have a yearly jam session in a new city that expresses the musical uniqueness of our [New Orleans] culture and community,\u201d Davey said. \u201cAll of this would center around the By playing in other cities, Vet Jams hopes to meet and connect with new veterans.<\/p>\n \u201cWe meet new veterans at almost every show, and we encourage each other to play music, to seek help and to join veteran-focused organizations like VFW,\u201d Davey said.<\/p>\n Currently, Vet Jams is hoping to expand their shows to neighboring Mississippi. They\u2019re also working on new music and are hoping to release their first album this year.<\/p>\n \u2018CONNECTING WITH SOMETHING OUTSIDE OURSELVES\u2019<\/strong> \u201cWe talk often on the mic about the importance of therapy,\u201d Davey said. \u201cMany of us attended military training in the 1980s and \u201990s, a time when you didn\u2019t talk about mental health. We were trained to overcome any weakness, to work through it on our own or with our unit. Post-military, we often lose those support systems. Going through major trauma, like combat, or losing friends or family members, can have a huge impact on our well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n Davey adds that by engaging with mental health professionals and getting tools that can help veterans overcome their past traumas, it can help them lead happier and more engaged lives.<\/p>\n \u201cVeterans are not alone,\u201d Davey said. \u201cWe\u2019re combat veterans; we\u2019ve been there, and we\u2019ve made it to the other side. We encourage anyone to come out and listen to some music, talk to the person next to you and join our community.\u201d<\/p>\n Davey and Pierson believe that music, whether playing or listening, is a way to escape oneself.<\/p>\n \u201cMusic is a way to connect with something outside ourselves,\u201d Davey said. \u201cIt\u2019s a universal language and naturally lifts the spirits. Getting out of the house, listening to music, meeting new people helps us realize there\u2019s a brighter future.\u201d<\/p>\n Vet Jams is eager to continue their musical journey of helping veterans and other members of their community who may be suffering in silence.<\/p>\n This article is featured in the 2026 May\/June issue of VFW magazine<\/a>, and was written by Danny Cook<\/a>, senior writer for VFW magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.vfw.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Near the end of the Mississippi River, not too far removed from the faint hums of downtown New Orleans jazz, you can find VFW Post 8973 \u2014 a place that understands how music can move us in powerful ways. One night in the fall of 2023, while at a Post event, Post 8973 members Chet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2453207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[482067,482076,482072,482070,482071,482073,482077,482064,482068,482074,482062,482065,482069,482066,482075,482063],"class_list":["post-2453206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-chet-pierson-jason-davey-vet-jams","tag-combat-veterans-fighting-suicide-through-music","tag-danny-cook-vfw-writer","tag-demystifying-veteran-therapy","tag-free-mental-health-resources-veterans","tag-how-does-music-help-veterans-with-ptsd","tag-joining-the-vfw-in-new-orleans-louisiana","tag-music-therapy-for-veterans","tag-new-orleans-veteran-musicians","tag-vet-jams-veteran-music-community-new-orleans","tag-vet-jams-vfw","tag-veteran-suicide-prevention-music","tag-veteran-transition-mental-health","tag-vfw-magazine-may-june-2026","tag-vfw-post-8973-community-events","tag-vfw-post-8973-new-orleans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Music-is-a-Universal-Language.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2453208,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453206\/revisions\/2453208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2453207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Pierson and Davey began getting together every Wednesday to practice at Post 8973 in New Orleans. Every now and then, local musicians would join them and participate in small shows for VFW members. However, it wasn\u2019t until members Javier Cantu and\u00a0Becca Doughty joined that Vet Jams\u2019 identity began to \u201csolidify,\u201d according to Davey.<\/p>\n
Vet Jams hopes to play a show in every city in the country one day.<\/p>\n
message that brought us together \u2014 the need to demystify our brothers and sisters to seek free mental health therapy and stop veteran suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierson and Davey have both struggled with mental health issues related to their past service in the military.<\/p>\n