John Milstead

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
- indiemusicuniverse.com

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 - singeruniverse

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

- Music News Nashville

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
- Mr Blue Boogie Publications

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) - Michael J. Media

"Sides of the Soul" by John Milstead
BY SHEENA BARNETT

With much of today’s music full of Auto-tune wars and digitized sounds, it’s rare to find an album so full of human sound and emotion.
Tupelo’s John Milstead has created an album like that. His debut record “Sides of the Soul” is a beautiful, soulful album that showcases his wide range of talents and sounds.
The best thing about “Sides of the Soul” is that it perfectly showcases Milstead’s gorgeous voice. He has a seemingly effortless, incredibly smooth sound, and it fits his passionate melodies perfectly. 
“Sides of the Soul” features a little bit of everything – there’s the gospel-y “Always October,” the rocking “Your Crime,” the moody “No Feeling,” the bouncy “Got This Love Thing Down,” the reggae-influenced “Hideaway,” the country sounding “I’ll Do the Same” – but every song features Milstead’s signature soul style. Milstead plays with lots of different genres, but he’s most definitely a soul artist.
Milstead wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the record, and he can make you fall in love or break your heart in just a few simple, well-chosen words.
The bluesy “Easy Goodbye” is a gorgeous break-up song: “I’m not sad enough to cry/Another easy goodbye…You’ve been inside my arms/And not in my dreams/Oh I fell up on my knees/And I just can’t fall in love.”
Milstead colors some of his songs with a Mississippi hue – take the fun “Got This Love Thing Down” – “Stumbled outta church today with the Lord in my heart/Headed down to good ole State to pick up my girl/My Bulldog cap on, the tires part the dirt,” he sings.
Speaking of Mississippi, Milstead’s joined on the record by a host of other Northeast Mississippi musicians like Greg Dillard and Shane Rowe.
“Sides of the Soul” is a rare record in that there literally is no filler – every single song is excellent. This is a stellar debut record, and it should open plenty of doors for the singer-songwriter.
Pick up John Milstead’s “Sides of the Soul” for a dose of some serious talent, passionate melodies and all-around terrific music.
Where can you buy John Milstead’s “Sides of the Soul”? Itunes, cdbaby, emusic, or by contatct john directly by email from his myspace page... myspace.com/johnmilsteadmusic
- Ms Daily journal