From Oxford Hills to stardom

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Morgan Hansen

OXFORD HILLS — “I remember seeing the 'Nashville: 1 mile' sign. I was ecstatic.” Morgan Hansen, a senior at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, has great dreams. She has a future as a star. She started her musical path singing in elementary school. Hansen has taken chamber choir her sophomore, junior, and senior year. She took guitar lessons until they shut down, and she stopped playing until her sophomore year came around. Everything changed the summer after her sophomore year.

One summer day Morgan sat down, and simply decided what she would do with her life.

“It was a totally sudden decision. I considered becoming a lawyer or archaeologist. I tried to ignore what was really on my mind: music.” Hansen was aware that a career in music was a risky one, and not very conventional. She quickly realized, however, that music was her calling. With a plan in mind, Morgan now needed to act.

“Where do I start,” she first asked herself.

To start, she thought of all the people she knew who played music. Her childhood nanny, Dede, is in a band and owns The Silver Spur, a country music club. She was glad to help Morgan and offered for her to perform at The Silver Spur. Morgan accepted.

“I was really nervous, and I practiced beforehand,” she explains. She sung two songs, and received many complements. Afterward, Hansen looked for connections through Dede. Peter Allen, engaged to Dede, offered to connect Morgan with a man named Ira Allen.

Ira Allen is an accomplished country singer, who has over ten albums of his own. He was inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame, and earned many other achievements in his music career.

Hansen set up a meeting with Ira and went to record some of her music before seeing him. She flew to Nashville with her parents, and met up with Ira at a restaurant.

“I was so nervous, I had to stay in the moment,” She remembers. But all went well. “Lunch lasts three hours, and Ira was very honest with me. He said I had to keep a realistic mindset.” Hansen went into the meeting with the naïve hopes of an instant record deal. She gave him her recorded music before leaving.

Ira sent her to meet a successful costume designer named Manuel in Nashville. She explains a very odd coincidence.

“On the plane ride to Nashville, I read a biography about Aerosmith, and it mentioned their costume designer as 'Manuel.'” Manuel was an interesting man when he met with Morgan.

“You write the songs, you sing the songs, I make the clothes,” he said.

Ira called latter while she was still in Nashville. “I winced when I said hello. But Ira burst out: 'I love your voice! You have so much talent!' That was the happiest I have ever been in my life so far, ” comments Morgan. Ira had agreed to produce her.

Once home from Nashville, Hansen instantly started voice and guitar lessons again, to keep her edge. As senior year came around, she had to start thinking about college. Ira had mentioned Belmont University, a music–based university in Nashville. So she did research, applied, and toured the campus.

“The campus was beautiful and their recording studio was free for student use,” she explains. Shortly after applying, she was accepted into their music business major. Hansen was thrilled. “I literally cried,” she says. Now she is applying for scholarships for Belmont and planning her move after college. She says that she intends to follow the full four-year course in music business while working with Ira. Afterward, she will be living in Nashville, making her way to stardom with her voice and guitar.