"AGT" Alum Drake Milligan Reveals the Unusual Place with a Massive Country Music Fanbase (Exclusive) 

11/14/2024 12:20 PM

The musician, who just released a new video for his single 'I Got a Problem,' says these European countries have surprisingly large groups of fans

Former America's Got Talent finalist, country singer and actor Drake Milligan is used to a lot of things: comparisons to Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, seeing the world whiz by from his tour bus, and slowly climbing his way to the top in what can be a tough and fickle industry.

One thing that's surprised the breakout star? Just how many country music fans he encountered in Europe and Australia during his recent shows overseas.

"You'll find country music fans pretty much everywhere in Europe," says Milligan, who is exclusively releasing his music video for 'I Got a Problem' with PEOPLE on Thursday.

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"I recently headlined a huge country music festival in Norway, and it was thousands and thousands of people," Milligan, 26, says. "It was me and Joe Nichols and the rest of the singers were Norwegian, singing in Norwegian but it was real country! And you could tell they love the real-deal country music. That one blew me away. I was like, 'Who would've thought?'"

Milligan, who first rose to fame when he played Presley on the CMT series Sun Records, later placed third on America's Got Talent in 2022 for his song "Sounds Like Something I'd Do."

After his song 'Honky Tonkin About' hit No. 1 on the Canadian Country music charts, he and his band made a special appearance on an AGT's Results Night in 2023. He recently wrapped up a year-long tour and is looking forward to a little break.

"It's been kind of a crazy year," Milligan says of growing more and more well-known around the globe. "I mean, we've been all over the world. I feel like we've played a million shows this year, and now I'm finally just getting past being tired."

Another place where the Texas native says he encountered "true blue country fans" during his tour?

"Australia," he notes. "I played a festival last year near Brisbane up in Queensland, and I looked at the crowd, and you would think I'm in Texas. It's like cowboys and cowgirls. I mean, the real deal. I was like, this is crazy. And they love to have a good time over there, I'll tell you that! But I mean, as far as how they live and love country, you would think they live in Texas."

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Milligan's deeply appreciative for his growing fanbase. "We got an actual tour bus this year," he tells PEOPLE with a laugh. "No more van!"

"I'm starting to look back at this year and just be really just grateful," he continues. "I've been down in Nashville about seven years or so now, and I think the guy who moved to town would be very, very excited about where he is now."

He adds, "I just want to keep making a name for myself and to be able to do this as long as possible, and do it at a high level."

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Milligan also knows he'll also be back in Europe sooner than later, playing for his Scandinavian fanbase.

"I can almost sell more tickets there than I do in Texas!" he says. "Especially because they love the more traditional kind of country music sound, fiddles, that kind of thing, which I also do. And they love early rock and roll — Orbison and Elvis. And so they just appreciate my style of music in a different way than most people do."