I lost a very good friend and mentor last week. Dave Milner was a legend where I’m from. There’s not a soul who loves live music who didn’t know him. 

The last conversation I had with him was two days before he passed. I had a list of 20 songs I had curated for our band to learn and wanted to get his opinion, so we were trying to set up a day to get together. 

While it was business conversation, Dave was just as interested in my day to day. He asked about my kids, my day job, my fiancee, my Dad and commented how my sobriety led to him not drinking lately. Last thing he said to me was his classic line “me love you long time”

It’s still shocking and I don’t know if it has really sunk in. 

I have to credit Milner for the opportunities I have in the music industry. A few years ago, I was kind of burnt out with the business. I don’t really have the fire and passion anymore. I was 30 years old and I had only played with a live band once in my career. 

On a whim, I decided to enter a singing competition at the Stompede in Grande Prairie. It was a great experience meeting a bunch of like minded singers; including my future band mate Christina Rogers, and future co-writer Mandy Biegel. When I got on stage, I had such a calm.

This was one of the first post-Covid events and I was on rodeo grounds while the Oilers and Flames playoff game was playing on the big screens. 

I sang “Alberta Bound” by Paul Brandt. Didn’t know I was singing it until five minutes before I got on stage. I always feel at home on stage, and I love entertaining, but I had been nervous when being judged in a competition before. Not that time. 

Dave Milner was one of the judges. I hadn’t met him yet at that point, but I know now that he fought to dub me the winner. I placed 2nd. The prize was studio time and I recorded my only release “All Out”, on all music platforms now! 

A few weeks later I was having dinner with my Dad, and I get a call from Milner out of the blue. He asked me if I’d be interested in co-fronting his band Great Northern Railway. The rest is history. 

With Great Northern Railway, I got to play with amazing musicians on stages across the peace country. We’ve shared the stage with the likes of Tanya Tucker, Chapel Heart, Johnny Reid, Kalsey Kulyk, Duane Steele and Kyle McKearney. 

It reignited my love for this mistress I have named music. (Props to Eric Church for coining that term).

It’s funny, because when I started this blog, I was in a similar position with my affair with music. Great Northern Railway wasn’t getting enough gigs, and I wasn’t seeking out more stage time for my solo act either. I even pondered quitting altogether. The love was gone. There were gigs that I dreaded because it didn’t feel like fun, it felt like work. 

Of course, because of this negative energy I was putting toward music, I wasn’t attracting any great opportunities. I made a shift, and I picked up my guitar, knocked the dust off it, and started looking for new tunes for GNR to spark my love for playing live music again. 

With the change in my energy and passion, I got an email from Darren Weatherburn, looking to book some entertainment at the Wildhorse Casino. The week leading up to my shows found me singing karaoke while holding my son to get my vocal cords warmed up. 

After learning of Dave’s passing, my weekend shows took on new meaning. Milner was old school. He hated when artists had screens to read lyrics and chords from. Early days in GNR I used my iPad to make sure I didn’t forget the words to songs I wasn’t as confident in. He hated it because it took away from the relationship between the performer and the audience. 

I’m proud to say the last year of GNR shows I didn’t need my iPad on stage. In my acoustic shows, I had the iPad with my set list, and I only used it for special requests of songs I had never played before. 

This past weekend, I decided to go screen free on stage. They were some of my best shows ever. I felt even more engaged with the crowd than ever before. I forgot some words sure, but I played it off just fine. 

A few songs came to mind when thinking of Dave Milner. He loved Alabama. He loved Kenny Chesney’s hit song “Beer In Mexico”. I decided to dedicate Luke Bryan’s hit “Drink A Beer” to my band Dad, and luckily that first night it was captured on camera.

Over the course of the weekend more musical opportunities came my way. I was offered a job playing rhythm guitar and singing harmonies for a new band. I booked a few more shows around town, and our band founded by Dave will continue on. 

I love music, and it means so much more to me than it does a lot of people, and I will always have Mr. Dave Milner to thank for mentoring me and helping me live my dream of getting paid to play. 

GOODBYE MILNER

Not music related, I wanted to tell this story about the human being, not just the guitar slinger. 

NOTE: This video was taken by Christina Rogers during one of our sound checks. Yes, the video contains dark humour but this is exactly the kind of humour that Milner adored.

Two years before I met Dave, he was working and was tasked with finding space for a camp near Powder King in British Columbia. He came across a space where my family has been attending our family reunion for almost five decades. 

He noticed the memorial we have there for those who have passed. My grandfathers Jim and Irvine, my mother Maureen, my sister Cassandra were the slain we honoured at the time (we have since honoured my grandmother Vivian and Uncle Dwight). He said to himself, this place is too special to turn into a camp. 

That’s who he was. When he noticed I was related to the Goodvin’s he told me about that. I can’t thank him enough. In my family that piece of land is sacred ground. It meant nothing to him, but he could feel the gravity. 

Rest in peace Dave Milner. You were not only a good friend but a mentor and a legend. It will be with a heavy heart when we take the stage without him, but if there is a heaven, we know he’ll be leading the way with his guitar in the big band in the sky. 

I think of a song by Zac Brown Band called “Lance’s Song” now when I think of Dave. It’s about a fallen drummer, but I just change the references to drummers to guitar. Please listen and raise a cold one in honour of our brother Dave Milner.