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 Jason
Milliken was raised in the small West Texas town of Coahoma, population one thousand, give or take a few.
He attended school there start to finish and graduated from Coahoma High School in 1994. Much of his time in those
days were spent playing basketball, fishing, and hanging around with his life long friends who were more like brothers
and sisters than friends. However, his main interest has always been music. His grandparents were his biggest influence
early on who he spent hours upon hours with listening to music, and in his grandparents house there was only one
kind of music, and that was country music. Later on when Jason was old enough to start hanging out in dance halls
he was very fortunate that ten miles away in Big Spring was the home of the legendary Hoyle Nix and
his West Texas Cowboys, The Stampede. Although Hoyle Nix was a little before Jason’s
time he spent many a Saturday night listening and dancing to Hoyle’s son Jody Nix and his Texas Cowboys, one
of the best western swing bands that has ever graced any stage. It was during those days that Jason really grew to
love western swing and traditional county music by hearing all of those songs made popular by the likes of Bob
Wills, Ray Price, Johnny Bush, and Darrell
McCall just to name a few. Jason had never performed in public until he decided that he would sing
a song in the senior talent show at Coahoma High School. He stepped on that stage in front of approximately one thousand
people (the entire town) and unbelievably wasn’t nervous at all. He received an overwhelming response from
the audience and knew from that day forward that playing music and singing was his calling. Jason had learned that
South Plains College in Levelland had a one of a kind commercial music program where students from all over the world
came to learn how to play and sing. And for a boy who had never spent much time outside of Howard County, Texas other
than an occasional family vacation knew that he had to go there even though at the time it seemed like he was moving
across the world, but luckily it was only one hundred and twenty five miles from home. After three years at Levelland
where he learned from some of the finest musicians in the business, and spent countless hours practicing, and playing
and singing at all night jam sessions with other fellow students, Jason had transformed from a kid who knew nothing
about music to an experienced musician. While at Levelland, Jason also had the honor of playing shows with some of
his professors around the local area. This gave him another taste of playing for a live audience, and a taste of
playing with top-notch musicians, and assured him that the gamble of moving to Levelland had paid off. In September
of 1997, Jason along with his best friend, fiddle playing Rocky King, who he grew up with in Coahoma, went to college
with in Levelland, and who are still best of friends today decided to take another gamble and move to San Marcos.
Jason says "San Marcos seemed like New York City to me, and I-35 almost scared me to death".
Working by day and seeking out good country music by night, it wasn’t long before Jason had become friends
with many of the best musicians in Central Texas who are now playing a major role in Jason’s current musical
endeavors. Then, unexpectedly one night at Gruene Hall with Asleep at the Wheel on the stage, Jason’s gamble
of moving to San Marcos paid off. It was there he met a girl named Lisa, who would soon become his wife and who shares
the same passion for music that Jason does. Falling back on his West Texas work ethic, Jason has spent the last five
years pursuing a career in management starting in San Antonio and eventually landing him in Austin. He is now the
operations manager for a major commercial roofing contractor in Austin. Jason and Lisa have spent much of their free
time over the past five years going out to listen to music, dancing, and having fun. Jason has continued to play
music regularly and has kept on improving his musical skills. Now more than ever, Jason is ready to dive headfirst
back into his musical career. He has just released his first album; a twelve song CD titled, Jason Milliken – Prison
of Loneliness. Of the twelve songs, five are written by Jason and the other seven consist of some of Jason’s
favorite western swing and traditional country songs previously recorded by some of the greatest artists of our time.
Jason hopes that everyone enjoys the album, and looks forward to seeing everyone in the near future at any live gigs
that he is actively pursuing.
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