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CD16
LITTLE MILTON
WELCOME TO LITTLE MILTON
(Malaco)
Little Milton Campbell was born September 7, 1934 in Inverness, Mississippi. His recording career began in 1953 with Sun Records in Memphis. One of the great blues guitarists, singers and composers of all time, he recorded for many labels including Chess, Stax and Checker before moving to Mississippi's Malaco Records in 1984. There he recorded an extensive catalogue, blending elements of R&B, soul and boogie-woogie into a raucous style with horn arrangements up front with the guitar parts. One of the best selling blues artists of the `60s, Little Milton is noted for hits like Just a Little Bit and If Walls Could Talk among many others that have become blues standards-.
Little Milton was quite amused to find a town in England bore his name, hence the title of his latest outing, a great album featuring many cameo appearances. In an effort to cross over to a wider audience, this corporate concept has proved worthwhile for others- such as John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Jimmy Rogers. Serious blues fans generally remain content with the pure passion of the original song versions without the sometimes overshadowing- rock star influence that transforms some of the songs into showcases of their own.
On this album, Milton does a few reworkings of his earlier sides and takes on his guests one at a time, matching their vocals and guitar licks and showing the kids how it's done. Southern blues-rock trio, Government Mule with ex-members of the Allman Brothers Band, provide a crunchy ZZ Top-ish backdrop to the opening and closing numbers. Controversial New Orleans community- radio presenter and leader of the band, The Blues Scholars - John Sinclair, contributes a delightful recitation leading- into Milton's duet with Susan Tedeschi on Memphis Slim's Mother Earth. West Coast guitarist of The Blasters' fame, Dave Alvin, guests on Never Trust a Woman which he wrote with Rick Estrin of Little Charlie and the Nightcats.
Other stand out tracks include Peter Wolf's Two Loves on which Milton pairs with the ex-J. Geils Band blue-eyed soulman, and the funky Gimme My Broom with South Louisiana bluesman, Keb' Mo'. G. Love and Special Sauce add a jazzy hip-hop flavour to noted arranger, Gene Barge's Me and My Woman, and the Muscle Shoals horns add plenty of southern spice to at least half the tracks.
The only cuts that don't work for me are those featuring the alternative roots country/R&B artists - durable Texan, Delbert McClinton on Some Kind of Wonderful, and Louisiana's Lucinda Williams on the much-covered Boudleaux Bryant tune, Love Hurts. Nonetheless, with David Hood on bass, Will McFarlane (guitar), Clayton Ivey (keys) and George Lawrence drumming on most of the tracks, this latest CD from the post-war blues veteran will still give you fifty-two minutes of nothing but pure rhythm and blues pleasure.
Al Hensley
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