Kara/M Perspective on He's Still Gone
Working with Stan has changed my musical life and so much more. I trust him, he is musically over educated (ha!) but has somehow managed to still have a childlike enthusiasm for music that is evident in his creations. His music has life and excitement, warmth, and joy. He has helped me reconnect with my voice, we've spent hours working on tone and vowels. I feel confident and at home in our partnership. Even though the possibilities are endless and music itself infinite, I'm proud of these small steps I've taken.
I wrote this song for my brother in law in the year following the death of my sister, his wife. I thought of all the routines he was accustomed to and how everything must have seemed "normal" except for this giant hole in the middle of everything. I sat down at the piano and put myself in his life and this is what came out. To this day he hasn't heard the song. And I changed it to "He's Still Gone" but someday I want my nephew to sing it as "She's Still Gone" and I hope by then maybe he will be able to hear it. Maybe it will help a little.
As I child, I remember sitting on the sofa while my mother played her records. The music was mostly big band or Gospel music. I would sit and rock to the music. My sisters and I sang in harmony as children. We were always singing. I still like to rock to the music.
I started to write poetry when I was a child. I always loved language and tried to express myself through poetry. Then I wrote my first song and I thought it was terrible. I thought I could never be a song writer or sing my own music, it was just too much to ask of life to be that happy. Yet the writer in me would not be silent. So, I kept on and even now, all I want to do is create music, create performances, share with others and add my voice to the loving transformation of this world. Part of my still believes it is too much to ask to be that happy,
This song is classic country. It comes from a very soulful place and it surfaces as an accessible country sound that resonates with the heart. Like a good country song, you can sing along and you will feel a little better after the last chorus, then you will play it again.
Music is always one step ahead of me. I will write something, then it will happen. I hear things, I write them down. I'm not that clever as to explore themes. I only can listen to what I am hearing and try to capture it. Sometimes, I whisper into music's gentle ears and tell music things in my heart that I cannot express any other way. I listen to music and then music listens to me.
Joni Mitchell. She is one of my heroines and she is all about the music.
A bathroom in Nashville!
Kara/M, the song-writing team of Kara Millerhagen and Stanford Felix, started their collaboration in 2023. Their lyric's positive messages inspire people looking for their authentic path, and their music encourages, uplifts, challenges convention, and energizes the soul.
