If it's local music from Wisconsin, it's heard here.
This is Max Inc. Radio.
We are local music.
You know, we often talk about the way music has a healing power.
And with Veterans Day on Monday, we wanted to look into the growing numbers
of art program centered around helping military members.
And some veterans learn to play guitar while others are writing about their experiences.
And one of these programs in Wisconsin, it's called Warrior Songs.
And Terry Bard talks with our friend Kelsey Miles to learn more about it.
And we get a chance to hear the song written for it.
Here's Kelsey joining Terry in the studio for Warrior Songs.
It's a really cool project, it's by a non-profit organization.
And it's really using music to facilitate the healing of veterans.
And in particular, for female veterans, after their service.
Why do you think tying music into veterans and their lives moving forward?
How does that make a difference for them?
Oh, that's a great question.
I mean, and I can't speak from experience,
but just from the testimonials that I was given to help with the songwriting process
and the people I've talked to, you know, music is just a way to really
kind of organize things that have happened in your head
and to project them in a way that helps you come to terms with things
or to make you feel connected to maybe others who have felt that way.
So I think music in general makes us feel that way.
But in particular, for this case, it's really,
I think it sounds like it was really helpful for a lot of veterans to have this.
I mean, the main reason I got into music was because I was going through a hard time
and music kind of found me, I don't know, a moat, whatever you want to
and feel like maybe someone else feels the same.
Do you feel that this CD can touch just about any person
if they're going through a tough time?
I think so.
I think that there's a lot of things that are relevant to a lot of different people.
And I mean, this was based off of female veteran testimonials.
So it really is geared more towards that.
But I think it reaches even more than just female veterans, veterans in general.
And I think a lot of people can, yeah, would appreciate to hear some of these songs.
All right, this song is called Sacrifice Ignored.
I got testimonials from five different female veterans.
And the theme on all of their testimonials was that they felt like after their service,
some people disrespected what they had done
and maybe didn't give them the accolades that they deserved.
So it's called Sacrifice Ignored.
When a middle aged man walked my way
and I pointed out the stick on the back of my car
and he looked me in the eyes and said,
man, I want to thank your husband for his service and his time.
Oh, not again.
He ain't seen us all in general like a me.
Oh,
it was my sacrifice.
Yeah, it was my sacrifice.
And oh, hey, it was my sacrifice.
My sacrifice, my sacrifice, and oh,
oh, when my grin began to fade and I tried to explain that,
no, it wasn't my husband.
And the man's grin grew larger as he guessed it was my brother
on my uncle, on my father.
Well, patience came over me and I told him it was me
and I was proud to say I served my country.
Oh, when the grin began to fade and he looked the other way,
confused by the truth in my story.
Where?
He ain't seen us all in general like a me.
Maybe he didn't want to believe.
Oh, it was my sacrifice.
Yeah, it was my sacrifice.
And oh, hey, it was my sacrifice.
My sacrifice, and oh,
oh, and inside my head I thought, oh, no, not again.
But the man gave me one more surprise.
He apologized and said, thank you for your time.
And then he turned and he walked away.
And the groceries that I held grew heavy and I felt like my sacrifice
wasn't known.
And I want to how many more are fighting this new war
in the country that you may sacrifice this war.
I guess he ain't seen us all in general like a me.
Why is this so hard for people to see?
Yeah, it was my sacrifice.
Hey, it was my sacrifice and oh, hey, it was my sacrifice.
My sacrifice, and oh, it was my sacrifice.
My sacrifice and oh, hey, it was my sacrifice.
My sacrifice, my sacrifice, my sacrifice.
My sacrifice won't be ignored.
Wow.
Wow.
OK, so I got to ask you the songwriting process then.
Yeah.
You get these testimonials.
And five of them, you write one song from these five testimonials.
How in the world did you pull that together with that?
I mean, that song is incredible.
Well, thank you so much.
Yeah.
So I read five of them and I saw this common theme right
in what was going on.
And a lot of it was taken from one of them
mainly about this story.
And she went to the grocery store.
And I embellished, you know, try to make this story,
just flow a little better.
But she just said she went to the grocery store
and she had a sticker on the back of her car.
And the middle age man came out and said,
hey, I just want to thank your husband.
And she just said, and she wrote.
And then in line, she said, I felt like my sacrifice was ignored.
And I was like, that's the song.
And so then I just tried to write from their perspective.
So in part of the song where I'm writing about their perspective,
it was based off of all the other testimonials.
So kind of the idea of the story came from her testimonial
that actually happening to her.
And then the perspective of talking about it
in the song of talking about how they felt
came kind of from just what the women were writing about,
how they felt when things like that have happened to them.
And just people just assume that it's, you know, it's not,
it's not, there's nothing at fault with these people that assume that.
It's just a way to, this song maybe will help them realize that, you know,
they should ask, maybe it is them that it was the veteran, you know,
and women and men are out there.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Wow, have they heard the song?
Yeah, so they sent them out to the people that got testimonials.
And I actually wasn't part of the, like, didn't get, didn't get much feedback,
but they liked it and they put it on the first track for the album.
So I don't know, I saw he kicks off the album.
Yeah. Oh, wow.
Yeah, I was really honored, though, to be able to write this.
And I hope I, I hope that I did it justice, you know,
because that topic is, I've never experienced that,
because I'm not a veteran.
But I, I hope I, you know, relayed that message
and was able to be their voice and music the best I, the best I could.
I was just so honored to be asked to use how cool, right?
Like, you know, to take someone's story and then
to turn it into something.
So it's, yeah, it was, I was really honored to, to do that.
All right, you can find more music written with her.
And for the veterans at warriorsongs.org.
Right now, let's keep going, Kelsey Miles.
This is I go back, Maxine Grigio.
We are local music.
