Photo: Robby Klein
Breakout country artist and America’s Got Talent alum Drake Milligan delivered his highly-anticipated EP on Friday (February 16), a long-awaited follow-up to his debut full-length album. Milligan, 25, remains steadfast in his traditional country sound with a fresh twist on Jukebox Songs.
The 4-track collection includes previously-released “Don’t Leave Me Loving You,” along with “What I Couldn’t Forget” — featuring influncers Gabi Butler and Piper Lee in the music video — “I Got A Problem (Full Length)” and “Jukebox Songs and Barstool Beers.” It arrives more than a year after Milligan released his debut full-length record, Dallas/Fort Worth, serving as a nod to his Texas hometown.
Track List to Jukebox Songs by Drake Milligan:
- What I Couldn’t Forget (Drake Milligan, Derek Bahr, Marv Green)
- I Got A Problem (Full Length) (Justin Wilson, Will Bundy, Jessi Alexander)
- Don’t Leave Me Loving You (Matt Rogers, Ben Stennis, Bobby Pinson)
- Jukebox Songs and Barstool Beers (Brice Long, Bart Butler, Jim Beavers)
Produced by Trent Willmon
Milligan recently spoke with iHeartCountry about his EP before its release. He delved into the timeless melodies in classic country music — including by singer-songwriters Hank Cochran, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and others who hav “such a way of saying everything in two and a half minutes” — his experience on America’s Got Talent, the process of creating Jukebox Songs, what he’s looking forward to in 2024 and more.
Milligan said he arrived in Nashville several years before auditioning for America’s Got Talent, which he considers to be his “icebreaker to the world.” He released his debut album on the heels of that show to “strike while the iron’s hot,” and has worked with teams of powerhouse songwriters and musicians since then (including Dallas/Forth Worth collaborations with James Burton and Vince Gill). He said the record was nearly done by the time the pandemic began in 2020, and although it was “kinda tough” to hold off on its release at that time, “I’m glad I did.
“It gave me time to really work and do more of that groundwork and lay that foundation so when the time did come…I felt like I was ready,” he said. “I felt like I could go put on a great live show and keep the train rolling, if you will.”
Milligan titled his next project Jukebox Songs with inspiration from the feel of music you’d find on an old jukebox in a West Texas bar, fitting in with Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon” or hits by late country music legend Toby Keith. Milligan aims for “great melodies attached to great lyrics that make you feel something.
“I feel like this [Jukebox Songs] is definitely a continuation of that sound (on Dallas/Fort Worth). You can listen to these songs alongside of that first record and they don’t feel like a departure,” Milligan said. “I wanna have a range of songs. I was doing that with the first record. I wanted to kind of not touch on the same subject, or same sound, or same type of songs too many times. …(I want to continue) filling in those gaps of ‘what don’t I have yet?’”
Milligan is taking his range of music across the world in 2024. He’s gearing up for performances in Europe and Australia before returning to the U.S. to open shows for “The Painter” hitmaker Cody Johnson, a fellow Texan.
Milligan is also set to team up with influencers Butler and Lee on a short film titled Drake Milligan in Girl Trouble, premiering on YouTube on Tuesday (February 20) with an after party to follow, per a press release issued Friday. Milligan aims to “enhance the immersive listening experience” of Jukebox Songs through the miniseries.
“I’m so excited for everyone to hear Jukebox Songs, this project was a labor of love and brought out a new creative side of me,” Milligan said in a statement. “As an entertainer, there is nothing I love more than hearing people sing back to me at shows, and I can’t wait to perform these brand-new songs to audiences across the world this year.”
Listen to Milligan's Jukebox Songs below, and find his music on iHeartRadio here.