"Falling In With The Right Crowd

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By Brett Ratner

Danny Milner came to Nashville with plans for making it in music.

There's nothing unusual about this. What set this particular bassist hailing from Louisiana apart was that he possessed a working knowledge of a variety of styles and a clear-cut objective for his approach to music. When the opportunities arose, Milner had the tools to take advantage of them.

"I was fortunate enough to get in with the right crowd," Milner said modestly, looking in retrospect to a successful stint with Nancy Griffith and a current one with Brooks and Dunn. "Rather I was lucky falling in with a legitimate crowd."

Milner held legitimate credentials before setting foot in Music City. The lion's share of his professional experience came from his gig as house bassist on Louisiana Hayride. This radio show, similar to The Grand Ole Opry, earned the nickname "Cradle of the Stars" because so many stars, such as Elvis and Patsy Cline, got early boosts to their career through that show. Milner also performed in a jazz trio which also consisted of now successful sideman Steve Conn on keys and slide guitar guru Sonny Landreth. The musically diverse Milner also sang lead in an R&B band. Oddly enough, it was in this band that he was "discovered" by Kix Brooks, then a staff writer at Sony/Tree.

Milner hooked up with Brooks to do demo work shortly after arriving in Nashville. When Brooks got his first major record deal, Milner signed up as a member of the Kix Brooks Band. Brooks' initial attempt at country chart domination wasn't quite so successful. He soon hooked up with Grammy winner Nanci Griffith. While Milner's bass playing was certainly an asset, his vocal abilities eventually came into play.

"There was this duo Nancy was producing that was opening for us on the tour," Milner said. "The male member of the duo was supposed to sing all the duets with Nancy and he just couldn't handle all the parts, so they asked me if I could try."

Milner ended up doing double duty as bassist and vocalist, proving that diverse abilities can be key to success in Music industry.

"I cheated myself out of some money on that tour because I didn't hire on as a vocalist," Milner said.

When Kix got the Brooks and Dunn thing happening, he rekindled his working relationship with Milner. Since then, Milner has been touring and playing and recording and doing what most players dream of doing. Oddly, enough, people keep putting strange questions to him.

"People are always asking me if I get tired of playing bass, or if I get tired playing the same songs night after night," Milner said. "I don't view it that way. I don't think 'Here we go playing "Boot Scoot Boogie" again!' Every time I play the song, it's like I'm playing it for the last time. It's up to me to make the song interesting."

Milner, who is fluent in country, jazz, rock and obviously a lot of styles relative to his native Louisiana, has a unique perspective about stylistic versatility as well.

"I wouldn't look at playing jazz, rock or country as three different categories," Milner said. "I see it like the music is playing through me, my interpretation of it. My approach has been how I feel about the song through my eyes only."