John Milstead

Artist Information

Biography

In a short time, John Milstead has sold over 5,000 copies of his album he wrote and produced solo. His music mixes soul and country elements. He has toured solo with Sister Hazel, opened solo for BB King, and sang on NBC's Today Show. In may 2012 he shared the stage with Maroon 5, opening for them along with other indie artists. Collaborating with several established writers, he is currently in Nashville TN writing and recording his new project, "Loveproof".

"John is a powerhouse of precision vocals", David Kershenbaum, (produced Bryan Adams, Tracy Chapman)

"Incredible melodic instinct-one of the strongest singers I've seen in a long time. True Artist." Robert Johnson ( writer/producer-Celine Dion, Lynyrd Skynrd)

John Milstead is an artist you should not miss hearing live.  From a sound that mixes pop,rock,and soul- and a live vocal that is unbelievable.  What else would you expect from a guy who grew up down the street from where Elvis was born and raised? Tupelo, Ms.  John is currently working on his new record which releases Feb 2013.  His first project "Sides of the Soul" makes it's debut onto Pandora Radio. All of the album was written, produced, and performed by Milstead.  

 Milstead has also been racking up awards rapidly.  He was a winner of the 9th and 10th Annual CMT NSAI contest for his song, “Don’t Believe in Love;” a top 10 finalist at Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic singer/songwriter competition in July 2009 and November 2009; and he was Singer-universe.com’s 2009 vocalist feature. Independent artist of the month on Indieuniverse.com. John also performed solo at Bluebird Cafe's 30th anniversary here in Nashville on June 9th, 2012-opening for Tony Lucca ( NBC The Voice) at Hotel Carolina festival this September.


 "An Easy Goodbye” is a soulful rock ballad, which provides an excellent showcase for Milsteads strong, expressive vocals. His vocals impressively combine the blues/rock style of Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company & Free), with the classic soul sound of Sam Cooke.”- album "Sides of the Soul"
--Dale Kawashima, singer-universe magazine

"Sometimes you can tell where an artist is from by listening to their music. That could be said of John Milstead, who hails from the state of Mississippi. The Tupelo native has released an album that is pretty much incredible, especially from a "new"artist that writes, produces, and performs all of their material. Milstead has what some call an "old soul". - Chuck Dauphin, Music News Nashville- 

links:

today show audition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz-Zqf5Iv7g

song for the troops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmKAYaw4Qek

articles:

http://www.muenmagazine.net/2012/05/john-milstead-sides-of-the-soul-review-by-matty/

http://indiemusicuniverse.com/artisthighlight/john-milstead-indie-music-universe-artist-week/

http://www.musicnewsnashville.com/john-milstead-raises-profile-on-national-tv



www.johnmilstead.com

Instrumentation

SOLO: John Milstead- acoustic guitar, piano, vocals

Discography

"Sides of the Soul" released independently July 2009



Itunes
pandoraradio
jango.com
Lightning 100 Nashville
Mississippi Supertalk Radio
Rock103 Memphis
"Don't Believe in Love" recently featured on WKDF nashville station.

Official Website

http://www.johnmilstead.com

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• john milstead official website
• heartaches video
• VIDEO tribute to the TROOPS

Audio

• An Easy Goodbye
  Listen  
• Dont Believe in Love
  Listen  
• WE WERE
  Listen  
• Heartaches Like You
  Listen  
• nothing like a song MARCH14
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Hold Me Like You Mean It
• heartaches like You
• An Easy Goodbye
• Upsideout
• "This Boy From Mississippi"
• C'mon Break My Heart
• Nothing Like A Love Song
• BUSY
• Don't Believe In Love

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Music News Nashville- John Milstead [+ Show ]
  

  Sometimes you can tell where an artist is from simply by listening to their music. That could be sa...Sometimes you can tell where an artist is from simply by listening to their music. That could be said of John Milstead, who hails from the state of the Mississippi. The Tupelo native has released an album that is pretty much incredible. In fact, the album is a little more than what you would expect from a “new” artist, as Milstead has what is called an “old soul.”
  
  From the opening cut, “Hold Me Like You Mean It,” all the way through to the end of the album, there is not one piece of filler anywhere to be heard of on this album. Whether he is moody and reflective, as he is on the afore-mentioned cut, or whether he struts his stuff---like on “Your Crime,” he shows that he is an artist of the first magnitude.
  
  Probably my favorites on the disc are the ballads, where he showcases a vocal approach that is as good as any artist on pop radio today. “Heartaches Like You” is proof of this, as is “Easy Goodbye” and the jaw-dropping “Head Over Heels.” I could write more words about Milstead, but that would prolong the amount of time that you would be without this album, and that truly would be a dis-service. Even Simon Cowell would have no complaints!
  
  For more about John or to buy this CD, visit http://www.myspace.com/johnmilsteadmusic
  
  

• John Milstead Album [+ Show ]
  

  Style : Americana Rate (1-5) : Quite often, when I start reading the publicity sheets that come...Style : Americana
  Rate (1-5) :
  
  Quite often, when I start reading the publicity sheets that come with the CD’s you get the feeling that there is a new Elvis, James Brown or Johnny Cash is discovered! Nine out of the ten times this comparison doesn’t make sense and If you are lucky it only means that one or two songs are made in the style of one of those mentioned artists! So when I read “Tupelo Based Singer/Songwriter dubbed as a cross Between Sam Cooke & Don Henley” on the sheet I thought here we go again. Boy was I wrong!
  
  The music on his album blends Country, gospel influences, soul and some pop into a unique sound that often brings the name Jeff Buckley to mind. “An Easy Goodbye” is a powerful Rock/Blues ballad with a touch of soul that gives you the best possible idea about his music! Leading track “Hold me like you mean it” comes with more or less the same air and “Don’t Believe in Love” won even the 9th annual CMT NSAI contest. As a matter of fact the song is currently in the running for the listener’s choice on CMT as well. “Got this Love thing” is another up tempo tune that mixes the aforementioned elements and creates a good rocking tune! For more up-tempo tunes take a listen to “Upside Out”. On the second part of the album, Milstead delivers a majority of ballads and this even makes me think more of Jeff Buckley
  
  The debut of John Milstead is indeed a stunning release and offers with “Sides of Soul” not only references to Sam Cooke or Don Henley but even takes it much further! I could add even a dozen of more names to it, but that wouldn’t change the fact! “Sides of Soul” is a stunning album where Milstead plays all the acoustic guitars and piano’s himself as well as racking all the vocal parts. An album worth to spend your time with!
  
  Mr Blue Boogie
  

• Singer Of the Month, singeruniverse.com [+ Show ]
  

  John Milstead Named October “Best Vocalist Of The Month” With His Song “An Easy Goodbye” By Dale ...John Milstead Named October “Best Vocalist Of The Month” With His Song “An Easy Goodbye”
  
  By Dale Kawashima
  
  John Milstead, a talented alt./pop singer & songwriter based in Tupelo, Mississippi, has won the October SingerUniverse “Best Vocalist Of The Month” Competition, for his performance of his song “An Easy Goodbye.” This song is featured on his debut 15-song album Sides Of The Soul, which he released independently in July (2009).
  
  
  John Milstead
  “An Easy Goodbye” is a soulful rock ballad which provides an excellent showcase for Milstead’s strong, expressive vocals. His vocals impressively combine the blues/rock style of Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company & Free), with the classic soul sound of Sam Cooke. This recording was expertly produced by Milstead at his home studio using ProTools, and he also plays acoustic guitar on this cut.
  
  Milstead was born and raised in Tupelo, where he started playing piano at age 14, and guitar when he was 17. He was inspired by listening to such favorite artists as Van Morrison, Sam Cooke and Don Henley. He also played in a band during high school.
  
  For college, Milstead attended the Baptist Health Science School in Memphis, where he subsequently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree, majoring in radiation therapy. After college he began his medical career, working as a radiation therapist at a cancer center. But when he was 26, Milstead decided to seriously pursue his music career. “I wanted to make a CD and get a band together,” he said. “I started recording my album in early 2008.”
  
  
  John Milstead
  Milstead took his time to record the 15 songs on the album, and completed it in the Spring of 2009. “The album is an equal mix of acoustic songs, and songs with full-out band production.” Two of the songs have already received exposure – “Hold Me Like You Mean It” received local radio airplay, and “Don’t Believe In Love” made the Top 40 of the NSAI Songwriters Contest, which was in conjunction with CMT.
  
  “Things have been going well – some independent labels in Nashville are interested in me, and I’ve been getting calls for bigger gigs, including some festivals,” said Milstead. “I’d like to set up a tour to play other parts of the country. And I want to find an agent or manager, who can step in and get me to the next level.” Milstead has also written many songs for his next album, but he will be concentrating on promoting his current release

• John Milstead Album debut [+ Show ]
  

  JOHN MILSTEAD is a singer/songwriter from Tupelo, Mississippi, USA, who releases a really impressive...JOHN MILSTEAD is a singer/songwriter from Tupelo, Mississippi, USA, who releases a really impressive debut CD titled ‘Sides of the soul’. John’s vocals are incredible, reminding of SAM COOKE, PAUL RODGERS and such Soulful singers. The music is Pop/Rock with a Soul/R&B Touch, so you won’t find any hard rocking tracks here, but on the other hand the 15 included tracks showcase a huge talent and perhaps John could well become the next big sensation in the Pop business, who knows! One way or the other, this CD should be praised by every Music dedicated media format, because this is the kind of music so many people out there seem to enjoy and just looking at national Dutch TV one is seeing many artists in this music genre being praised (like a BORIS, ALAIN CLARKE or ), while this JOHN MILSTEAD easily blows away any of them with this first record. Just listen to the song “Easy goodbye” and you would swear this is PAUL RODGERS going back to his Soulful bluesy rockballad roots a la FREE/BAD COMPANY! Definitely a CD to check out asap if you are a music fan! More info at: www.myspace.com/johnmilsteadmusic
  
  (Points: 8.3 out of 10)

• Indie Artist of the Week [+ Show ]
  

  ohn Milstead is an artist you should not miss hearing live. From a sound that mixes pop,rock,and so...ohn Milstead is an artist you should not miss hearing live. From a sound that mixes pop,rock,and soul, and a live vocal that is unbelievable. What else would you expect from a guy who lives down the street from where Elvis was born and raised, Tupelo,Ms. John is currently working on his new EP which releases this fall- while is first album "Sides of the Soul" makes it's debut onto Pandora Radio, and has sold over 3,000 copies in a short time. All of the album was written, produced, and performed by Milstead.
  
  Rarely does a debut album/demo by an independent artist sound as compelling as John Milstead’s debut offering, Sides of the Soul. Heavily influenced by the likes of Sam Cooke and Don Henley, and true to his Tupelo roots, Milstead’s music is the perfect blend of pop, country and soul. Growing up in Tupelo, Milstead was always around soul and gospel music, and found a way to weave those influences into his own music, always adding a twist of classic soul to his own pop melodies.
  
  Milstead has also been racking up awards rapidly. He was a winner of the 9th Annual CMT NSAI contest for his song, “Don’t Believe in Love;” a finalist at Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic singer/songwriter competition in July 2009 and November 2009; and he was Singeruniverse.com’s October 2009 vocalist of the month.
  
  Instrumentation
  John Milstead- Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Vocals
  

Setlist

Depending on the venue and vibe, I can do everything from maroon 5 covers, lionel richie, stevie wonder, and in between. I also tour as a solo artist performing 2 hours of original songs. During breaks i sometimes entertain with my elton john/billy joel set and take requests for fun..
I usually do 10 to 12 songs per set, but can easily entertain 4 hours of music if needed..

Basic Requirements

Calendar