“I like your new voice better than your old voice.” Kevin Milner hears that at the end of almost every performance he gives. His first was a clear, high Neil Young-esque voice that was transformed overnight into a gruff rasp. A tumor removal surgery left him with only one working vocal cord but an implant in his neck gave him a voice again. The new voice is much rougher and comes with it’s difficulties but seemingly, it matches his world-weary lyricism better than the original. Kevin was raised in a small town in Northern Kentucky and discovered folk music through his mother’s record collection. His days were spent listening to Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and his musical idol, Leonard Cohen. He began writing poetry in his early teens and after picking up the guitar in his early 20’s, he combined the two and developed a passion for songwriting. Kevin considers songwriting a beautiful puzzle. Every word is obsessed over; every note played hundreds of times until the song is in its most perfect form. Songwriting is a difficult, emotional, and at times, manic process for Milner, but the end result is nothing short of magical. The father of four now lives near Dayton, OH where he performs with his band OPA. Kevin was voted the Dayton songwriter of the year in 2015 and has had the honor of opening for fantastic songwriters like John Moreland, Ellis Paul and Griffin House. He has released three albums independently and is excited to be working with Thinkroot Records on his fourth.