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As Drake Milligan looks forward to his first tour of Canada, the rising American star still can’t reflect on his past exposure in the North.
Milligan’s signature musical talents were brought to the world last year as one of three finalists on America’s Got Talent. The former Elvis impersonator got positive reviews from all four celebrity judges, including the prickly Simon Cowell, but it was Canadian TV personality and comedian Howie. Mandel, who provided the most help when he crowned Milligan “the new Elvis of the country. “
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This name has followed him ever since.
“Howie has been very supportive,” said Milligan, whose report for Western Canada begins next week at the Regina Casino Show Lounge (Tuesday) and the Coors Event Center in Saskatoon (Wednesday).
“(Mandel) coined the term that has become the name of each and every article (about Milligan). Anyone who is an Elvis fan has suddenly noticed that this article is at the most sensible point in its set of rules (on social media). ). It allowed this fan base to notice my music.
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Milligan was just a kid when he discovered The King’s music through an Elvis tribute artist. The young man then followed a similar path in high school and college, which was his first “foundation” as an artist. It also encouraged him to make his first stop in Canada. for a foreign Elvis festival in Ontario that lasted 25 years before ending in 2019.
“That’s why I came every year,” recalls the 25-year-old Texan. “At that time it was the largest Elvis festival in the world. “
Milligan was still in top school when he was presented with his first big chance as the star of the CMT Sun Records miniseries, named after Elvis’ first label.
Since she was only 17 years old at the time, Milligan traveled to Memphis with her mother to compete in the open trials.
“They didn’t want to let me audition at first because I was actually too young,” he said. “But I fought my way in there and convinced them (to let him sing). Two weeks later I got a call that I got the part. I ended up leaving high school and finished online so I could go do this TV show.”
Although music is his passion, Milligan remains open to future acting gigs. He first role was playing a teenage Elvis in the 2014 short film Nobody, followed by the CMT series in 2017.
“I fell in love with acting through Sun Records,” he said. “Right now, I’m focused on music, my time is focused on that, but if the right thing came up, I’d love to do a western or anything outside of Elvis. “
Milligan grew up with country music (Merle Haggard was one of her father’s favorites), so she turned to the genre at a young age. He also liked fashion icons like George Strait and Alan Jackson.
“I’ve always described my sound as old-school in a new way,” he explained. “My influences are pretty much all older music from the ‘90s all the way back to the ‘50s and ‘40s. That’s the beauty of the (digital) age we’re living in — all music is at the tip of everybody’s fingers. It feels like there’s a little bit of a revolution of that older music coming back.”
Milligan wanted to drop the Elvis stuff after moving to Nashville, but Tony Brown, who once played keyboards for The King, encouraged him to take it on. He is now a Grammy-winning record producer, known for working with prominent country artists such as Strait.
Brown co-produced Milligan’s debut album, Dallas/Fort Worth, which was released last year.
“He said you have to take those influences and use them,” Milligan recalls. “He uses Elvis material, he uses everything he’s learned in music and he tries to mix all of that. Elvis’ influence is (still) there. You can hear it in some of the things I sing and in my concerts.
Milligan made his Canadian debut this fall at the CCMA awards, performing alongside Stuart and Jenna Walker of The Reklaws. They unveiled a new collaboration for the song “Honky Tonkin’ About,” which recently hit No. 1 in Canada.
My label, Broken Bow, came up to me and said, ‘Hey, those guys need you on a song. ‘I revere that they asked me to. . . We’ve become friends very quickly. They are wonderful people, wonderful musicians. It’s wonderful to see (the song) come all the way to the top. “
After delaying the release of his album amid the COVID pandemic, Milligan is eager to hear more music around the world. It also joins another previous AGT competition for an upcoming TV spin-off called Fantasy League.
It’s the newest opportunity presented through the NBC franchise, which helped launch his career almost overnight.
“I’d been playing shows and slowly releasing music but not really getting a whole lot of traction,” he said. “(AGT) was such a great opportunity for me to share my story and my music with the world. It’s really allowed me somewhat of a fanbase anywhere I go. We went to London last year in the UK and people knew my songs there.
“It kind of blows me away.”
gharder@postmedia. com
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