If you went to the C2C festival last year you will have known that there was only one name on everybody’s lips and that was Drake Milligan. The Texas country artist became the hottest name of the weekend with performances at the Indigo, All Bar One and on the Spotlight stage. It’s safe to say he won over a legion of fans on this side of the pond during his visit and it was no surprise to see him promoted to the main stage for this year’s festival next month. With new EP ‘Jukebox Songs’ out today (our review here) we were thrilled to catch up with Drake and talk to him all about it.
Thank you for giving me your time today, Drake, it’s lovely to speak to you.
No problem, no problem!
How are you feeling? It’s release week for the EP this week.
I’m just so excited to get some new music out into the world and start seeing the responses to it. It’s always a little nerve-wracking because you don’t know what is going to happen to it but it’s also exciting!
We can’t wait to have you back in the UK next month at this year’s C2C festival. It was an absolute pleasure watching you blow up at the festival last year. Were you aware that you were the name on everyone’s lips last year or were you just out there doing your thing?
I was aware of it, for sure. When we played the first show at The Indigo there was such a great reaction and then a lot of people showed up to everything I did so that made us realise something special was happening. It’s been great to hear from so many fans that saw me there last year and are now listening to my music – I can tell you we are very excited to come back and play again.
And on the main stage this year too! You are going to rock that!
We’re definitely excited to be on that stage. We sat and watched it last year after I’d played the Spotlight stage and all I could think about was how cool it would be to have the full band up on that stage sometime. As we say in Texas, we’re chomping at the bit!
I was lucky enough to catch you play the late midnight set up at the top of All Bar One last year. It was cramped, hot, sweaty and a tiny stage but you still exuded this classy stage presence and craft. Which artists have influenced you the most in terms of stage craft and performance?
Oh man, Elvis would be number one for me. I’ve spent so many years studying him and his live shows. He was one of the best entertainers of all time so who better to look to than him. I also have a ton of respect for Cody Johnson and his live shows too. He’s a guy that I’m going on the road with later this year and he is great at doing things his own way and really holding an audiences’ attention and engaging every last person in a venue – that’s a real skill.
‘Jukebox Songs’ is out today, congratulations! The elephant in the room is that it’s only four tracks! That’s not long enough Drake! We need more!
(I laughing) Me too, man! We kinda just wanted to put our best foot forward and find four songs that get people’s blood flowing a little at the start of the year.
Are these new songs that you’ve wrote since ‘Dallas / Fort Worth’? Did you have a good pool of songs to choose from?
Yes. They are pretty new songs. I do have a pile of songs tucked away. I’ve been here in Nashville writing away for a number of years now so there is a bunch of songs I have and a bunch I have from great outside writers too. I still play some songs live that I’ve written that I haven’t recorded yet too. I’m always working and definitely always thinking about the next project coming down the line.
Might there be a bigger body of work coming later this year or are you just going to see how these four songs do?
I would love to get back into the studio as soon as possible and get working on a new album. We have lots of material ready to go.
Of the four new ones, ‘Don’t Leave Me Loving You’ is a nailed-on radio or chart hit isn’t it?
Thank you, man, that’s so cool to hear you say that. I love that song, it’s got some classic melodies to it and it’s a cool song to be able to sing every night, a song that everyone can relate to that is beautifully done.
When you write a new song do you have half a mind on your live shows and where it might fit in or do you just let the song emerge as it is and worry about that after?
I think I write towards the live shows, for sure. I often sit down and think about what my show might be missing or what I could write to add in to the show to make it better. I’ll go armed with that into co-writing situations or have that awareness when we are looking for songs from other writers.
Is there anyone that you haven’t written with yet that you’d love to get into a room with for your next project?
Oh there’s plenty out there! One guy I’d really love to write with is Marty Stuart. I’ve loved his records for years and I’d love to track him down and write a song with him. If nothing else, it would be cool to listen to some of his great stories, right?
There are two other songs you’ve been involved with recently that I loved. You had the cut ‘Paper Umbrellas’ on Tim McGraw’s new album which is a strong song on a really strong album. How did that find it’s way to Tim and would you like to write for more artists down the line?
So that was a song I wrote with Monty Criswell. He’s a great songwriter, I mean, ‘I Saw God Today’ by George Strait is one of my favourite songs ever. He knows that I love a strong melody and he came in with the melody and we came up with this Glen Campbell style groove for it. We thought it would be quite cool to write it as an 80s George Strait style story song and it found its way to Tim through Sony Music Publishing I think.
It’s great to see him reacting to that because it’s kind of an old school Country style song. His music had been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember so it’s cool to listen to a voice that you’ve listened to your whole life sing a song you helped write. There’s really nothing like it. I’d like to have that feeling again with other artists, for sure. Ronnie Dunn cut a song of mine called ‘If Love Ever Comes My Way Again’ on his ‘100 Proof Neon’ record and that was exhilarating too.
I loved what you did with The Reklaws too, particularly with the ‘Honky Tonking About’ video which looked like it was a whole bunch of fun to shoot.
(laughing) That was a wild time. We filmed that in Romania because my manager was out there working on a project and he said ‘why don’t you guys just come out here and film it,’ and we were, like, ‘OK, let’s go!!’ (laughing) The set was great and the Reklaws were awesome, they are such a cool pair and we’ve become fast friends since then too.
I want to keep this thing rolling and see as many people and places as possible. Keep an eye out for us in the UK next month everyone! We’re very excited.
Check out Drake Milligan’s ‘Jukebox Songs’ EP out in all the usual places today (February 16th)
