Phil Milligan
Phil Milligan was born to Bud and Icess Milligan living in a sharecropper house on the farm of Bud’s parents, Raymond and Vivian Milligan in 1961. He started his musical experience singing hymns in the Morley, MO Church of Christ acapella. He started formal music training at age 10 with Burt Stanley in the beginning band in Rolla, MO playing an alto saxophone which his parents could not afford but bought anyway.
When Phil was 12, his brother, Steve Hardesty, who was an established professional guitar player, brought him a Silvertone electric guitar which a guy had given him at a bar gig. It may or may not have been stolen! He continued to work on both guitar and saxophone skills throughout his public school career.
In 1979 Phil graduated from Kelly High School in Benton MO and headed to Southeast Missouri State University as a dual Guitar and Saxophone major. After freshman year, he decided to focus on saxophone due to the fact that his plans were to be a high school band director. He graduated in 1983 and began his teaching career, later earning a Master’s degree in music education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He left the band room for the principal’s office in 2000, retiring in 2012.
Phil plays:
- Ovation Elite cutout acoustic-electric guitar
- Taylor 2245 Koa acoustic-electric guitar
- Godin Flat Five thin line hollow body electric guitar
- Godin Fifth Avenue hollow body guitar
- Yamaha FG160 acoustic guitar (first new guitar his dad bought him in 1975)
- Schecter C-1 Soloist electric guitar
- Cordoba thin body nylon string electric guitar
- Ibanez SG 5 string electric bass guitar
- Mahalo solid body electric bass ukulele
- Kala Fretless solid body electric bass ukulele
- Snail acoustic-electric tenor ukulele
- Selmer AS42 alto saxophone
- Yamaha YTS 62 tenor saxophone
- Roland Aerophone AE-10 Digital Wind Instrument (electronic saxophone)
