Portland's Kyleen King, known as the musician's musician, is a professional instrumentalist and vocalist who brings nuance, wisdom, humor, and musical excellence to all her endeavors. Whether she's working as a session musician, string arranger, composer, teacher, or live performer (most notably as a touring musician with multi-Grammy-Award winner Brandi Carlile and her “Bramily,”) Kyleen gives 100% of her grounded energy and mindfulness to each facet of her musical multiverse. Now, Kyleen is embarking on an ambitious journey to get a masters in social work, so that she can help fellow musicians with their (usually under-addressed) mental and physical health issues: Kyleen knows all about the struggle musicians encounter just trying to meet basic needs, to manage substance use, creative burnout, and abuse in the music industry. This mission is not only important, it is vital to the health and well-being of our musical community, which has suffered in big ways during the pandemic and beyond. After hearing what Kyleen has to say in this interview, please consider supporting her goal by donating to her GoFundMe: “Support a Musician's Journey to Social Work.” Miri and I visited Kyleen in her studio a few days ago. My conversation with her will make you want to join in the mission to help those who create music, a vocation that is sadly under-valued by the general public. After our chat, Miri photographed Kyleen: Intermittent flash issues turned what could have been a problem into artful serendipity, resulting in visual movement and whimsy – perfectly capturing Kyleen's free-flowing creative spirit. It's all systems go for Kyleen's Mission of Love! 

Kyleen King's Mission of Love

Welcome to The Light and Limn, a creative collaboration between Darka Dusty and Miri Stebivka, partners in time, music, photography, and life. Darka has lively chats with interesting people, and Miri takes their portraits, in his unique style. Illumination... conversation... That's what we love.

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