Adam Levy is doing the usual things local musicians with a certain notoriety do when they have a new album: A recent in-store appearance at the Electric Fetus. A release party this Saturday at the Cedar Cultural Center.
And then there are the events that point to just how special this record is.
Last month the Honeydogs frontman spoke and sang in a lecture series for Yale University's psychiatry department. He appeared at the Twin Cities Jewish Community Conference on Mental Health, too. More speaking engagements are in the works.
He's not just promoting music, in other words.
"My ability to talk about this traumatic experience and people's willingness to listen has been a blessing as far as the healing process goes," said Levy. "I didn't start writing music again until I started talking about what happened — started understanding it better."
The album, "Naubinway," is named after the beach in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where Levy's family spread his son Daniel's ashes three years ago.
Daniel Levy, 21, took his life in January 2012. He battled mental illness from age 16, when he was diagnosed as bipolar. Fits of depression, delusional episodes, hospital visits and possibly schizophrenia were among his many worsening struggles. It got so bad that Daniel's parents tried to get him into a full-time care facility, to no avail.
"I called and said, 'My son is going to kill himself,' " Levy recalled. "I knew it. His therapist wouldn't admit it to me, but I think he also knew it was very possible. The bureaucracy around this sort of care is very frustrating."