Malford Milligan

Malford Milligan (born March 29, 1959) is an Austin-based soul, blues and rock singer who has been compared to Otis Redding and Al Green.^[1]

Early life

Malford Milligan was born in Taylor, TX, to Frank and Mary Milligan. In 1981, after a period as a sociology student at Texas Tech University, Milligan moved to Austin to begin studies at the University of Texas. Instead, his Monday night blues jams became the beginning of a life in music. His local band, the Stick People, launched his career as a talented singer.

Career

In 1994, he helped form the Texas supergroup, Storyville, with David Holt, David Grissom, and the rhythm section from Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble, which included bassist, Tommy Shannon, and drummer, Chris Layton. As a session singer, Milligan was in great demand. He toured and worked on albums together with other outstanding musicians, including Hal Ketchum, Marcia Ball, Alejandro Escovedo, Sue Foley, Eric Johnson and Chris Smither. During this period he also expanded his horizons from strictly secular music, privately releasing the two benefit albums, The Gospel According to Austin and The Gospel According to Austin, Vol. 2. Milligan fronted the Boneshakers band in 2001-3. He left the Boneshakers to form his own group, the Malford Milligan Band, which released Rides Again... on the Varese Sarabande label in 2006.^[2]

In 2008/2009, he was touring with Greg Koch, a multifaceted electric guitarist capable of fluently playing a gamut of musical styles. Together they formed a band called Nation Sack -drawing their name from the lyrics of a Robert Johnson song entitled "Come On in My Kitchen"- who released an album under the same name in 2009 which includes a blending of electric blues and rock styles. When performing live, Nation Sack is known to cover songs from Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin, such as "Hi-Ho Silver Lining," "Rock and Roll," and excerpts from such classic tracks as "Dazed and Confused" and "Heartbreaker."

Currently, Malford has moved back to Austin and started getting back into the music scene there. An early highlight of his return to Austin was his appearance (along with David Grissom at Antone's for Blue Tuesday on 20 October 2009. The last two songs performed at this were "Change is Gonna Come" which appeared on Storyville's first album and "What Passes for Love" from Storyville's second album.

He can be heard on the Eric Johnson album "Up Close" released in 2010 singing "Brilliant Room"

References

1. ^ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide, Artist Direct
2. ^ Review by Raoul Hernandez, The Austin Chronicle

External links

• Nov. 2004 Review: Rockin Texas Blues. Best blues soul singer in Texas. 'Nuff said.
• [1]

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Name	Milligan, Malford
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Date of birth	March 29, 1959
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