Little Milton

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For other uses, see Little Milton (disambiguation).
Little Milton
LittleMilton.png
Background information
Birth name James Milton Campbell, Jr.
Born September 7, 1934
Inverness, Mississippi, United States
Died August 4, 2005(2005-08-04) (aged 70)
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Genres Electric blues, R&B,[1] soul, funk
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1953–2005
Website Official website

James Milton Campbell, Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues,[1] and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."

Contents

Biography [edit]

Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician.[2] By age twelve he had learned the guitar and was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock and roll contemporaries.[2] In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles. None of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, however, and Milton left the Sun label by 1955.[2]

After trying several labels without notable success, including Trumpet Records,[3] Milton set up the St. Louis based Bobbin Records label, which ultimately scored a distribution deal with Leonard Chess' Chess Records.[2] As a record producer, Milton helped bring artists such as Albert King and Fontella Bass to fame, while experiencing his own success for the first time.[2] After a number of small format and regional hits, his 1962 single, "So Mean to Me," broke onto the Billboard R&B chart, eventually peaking at #14.

Following a short break to tour, managing other acts, and spending time recording new material, he returned to music in 1965 with a more polished sound, similar to that of B.B. King. After the ill-received "Blind Man" (R&B: #86), he released back-to-back hit singles. The first, "We're Gonna Make It," a blues-infused soul song, topped the R&B chart and broke through onto Top 40 radio, a format then dominated largely by white artists. He followed the song with #4 R&B hit "Who's Cheating Who?" All three songs were featured on his album, We're Gonna Make It, released that summer.

Throughout the late 1960s Milton released a number of moderately successful singles, but did not issue a further album until 1969, with Grits Ain't Groceries featuring his hit of the same name, as well as "Just a Little Bit" and "Baby, I Love You". With the death of Leonard Chess the same year, Milton's distributor, Checker Records fell into disarray, and Milton joined the Stax label two years later.[2] Adding complex orchestration to his works, Milton scored hits with "That's What Love Will Make You Do" and "What It Is" from his live album, What It Is: Live at Montreux. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.[4] Stax, however, had been losing money since late in the previous decade and was forced into bankruptcy in 1975.[2]

After leaving Stax, Milton struggled to maintain a career, moving first to Evidence, then the MCA imprint Mobile Fidelity Records, before finding a home at the independent record label, Malaco Records, where he remained for much of the remainder of his career.[2] His last hit single, "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number," was released in 1983 from the album of the same name.[2] In 1988, Little Milton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and won a W.C. Handy Award.[2] His most final album, Think of Me, was released in May 2005 on the Telarc imprint, and included writing and guitar on three songs by Peter Shoulder of the UK-based blues-rock trio Winterville.

The name 'Little Milton' was reused for Gerald Bostock, the fictional boy poet central to Jethro Tull's 1972 record Thick as a Brick.

Milton died on August 4, 2005 from complications following a stroke.

Discography [edit]

Albums [edit]

Little Milton in 1982
  • We're Gonna Make It (1965, Chess) (R&B #3 U.S. #101)
  • Sings Big Blues (1966, Checker)
  • Grits Ain't Groceries (1969, Stax) (R&B #41 U.S. #159)
  • If Walls Could Talk (1970, MCA/Chess) (R&B #23 U.S. #197)
  • Waiting for Little Milton (1973, Stax) (R&B #39)
  • What It Is: Live at Montreux (1973, Stax)
  • Blues 'n' Soul (1974, Stax) (R&B #45)
  • Tin Pan Alley (1975, Stax)
  • Friend of Mine (1976, Glades) (R&B #50)
  • Me For You, You For Me (1977, Glades)
  • Walkin' the Back Streets (1981, Stax)
  • The Blues Is Alright (1982, Evidence)
  • Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number (1983, Mobile Fidelity) (R&B #53)
  • Playing for Keeps (1984, Malaco) (R&B #55)
  • I Will Survive (1985, Malaco)
  • Annie Mae's Cafe (1986, Malaco)
  • Movin' to the Country (1987, Malaco)
  • Back to Back (1988, Malaco) (R&B #73)
  • Too Much Pain (1990, Malaco) (R&B #40)
  • Reality (1991, Malaco) (R&B #57)
  • I Need Your Love So Bad (1991, Golden Ear)
  • Strugglin' Lady (1992, Malaco) (R&B #63)
  • I'm a Gambler (1994, Malaco)
  • Live at Westville Prison (1995, Delmark)
  • Cheatin' Habit (1996, Malaco) (Blues #14)
  • For Real (1998, Malaco) (Blues #13)
  • Welcome to Little Milton (1999, Malaco) (Blues #10)
  • Feel It (2001, Malaco)
  • Guitar Man (2002, Malaco) (Blues #8)
  • The Blues Is Alright: Live at Kalamazoo (2004, Varèse Sarabande)
  • Think of Me (2005, Telarc) (Blues #14)
  • Live at the North Atlantic Blues Festival: His Last Concert (2006 Camil)

Singles [edit]

Incomplete listing

  • "So Mean to Me" (1962) (R&B #14)
  • "Blind Man" (1965) (R&B #86)
  • "We're Gonna Make It" (1965) (R&B #1 U.S. #25)
  • "Who's Cheating Who?" (1965) (R&B #4 U.S. #43)
  • "Man Loves Two" (1966) (R&B #45)
  • "We Got the Winning Hand" (1966) (U.S. #100)
  • "Feel So Bad" (1967) (R&B #7, U.S. #91)
  • "I'll Never Turn My Back on You" (1967) (R&B #31)
  • "Let Me Down Easy" (1968) (R&B #27)
  • "More and More" (1968) (R&B #45)
  • "Grits Ain't Groceries" (1969) (R&B #13, U.S. #73)
  • "Just a Little Bit" (1969) (R&B #13, U.S. #97)
  • "Baby, I Love You" (1970) (R&B #6, U.S. #82)
  • "If Walls Could Talk" (1970) (R&B #10, U.S. #71)
  • "Somebody's Changin' My Sweet Baby's Mind" (1970) (R&B #22)
  • "I Play Dirty" (1971) (R&B #37)
  • "If That Ain't a Reason" (1971) (R&B #41)
  • "That's What Love Will Make You Do" (1972) (R&B #9, U.S. #59)
  • "What It Is" (1973) (R&B #51)
  • "Behind Closed Doors" (1974) (R&B #31)
  • "Tin Pan Alley" (1974) (R&B #51)
  • "Let Me Back In" (1974) (R&B #38)
  • "If You Talk In Your Sleep" (1975) (R&B #34)
  • "Friend of Mine" (1976) (R&B #15)
  • "Baby, It Ain't No Way" (1977) (R&B #94)
  • "Loving You" (1977) (R&B #47)
  • "Just One Step" (1977) (R&B #59)
  • "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number" (1983) (R&B #89)

Compilation albums [edit]

Incomplete Listing

  • Greatest Hits (1972, MCA/Chess)
  • Sun Masters (1990, Rounder)
  • Welcome to the Club: The Essential Chess Recordings (1994, MCA/Chess)
  • The Complete Stax Singles (1994, Fantasy)
  • Stand By Me: The Blues Collection [#48] (1995, Orbis)
  • Greatest Hits (1995, Malaco)
  • Rockin' the Blues (1996, MCA Special)
  • Greatest Hits (The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) (1997, MCA/Chess)
  • Chess Blues Guitar: Two Decades of Killer Fretwork (1998 MCA/Chess)
  • Count the Days (1997, 601 Records)
  • The Complete Checker Hit Singles (2001, Connoisseur Collection)
  • Anthology 1953-1961 (2002, Varèse Sarabande)
  • Running Wild Blues (2006, Charly)
  • Stax Profiles (2006, Stax)
  • The Very Best of Little Milton (2007, Stax)

Appearances on other albums [edit]

  • Jackie Ross: Take the Weight Off Me (Grapevine) Five duets with Ross
  • Albert King, Chico Hamilton, Little Milton: Montreux Festival (Stax 1974)
  • Various artists: Vanthology: Tribute to Van Morrison (Evidence 2004) Milton covers Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey".
  • Jean Jacques Milteau: Memphis (Sunnyside) Milton sing Sting's "If You Love Someone Set Them Free".
  • E. C. Scott: The Other Side of Me (Black Bud) Milton sings two duets with Scott
  • Gov't Mule: The Deep End Volume 1. Milton sings "Soulshine" with Warren Haynes
  • Willie Dixon: The Chess Box set, Milton performs "I Can't Quit You Baby"
  • Gov't Mule: "Mulennium" live album (3ple CD, 4ple vinyl, 2010, Evil Teen) recorded December 31, 1999 at the Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, GA.

Quotations [edit]

"Any category they want to put me in is fine with me as long as they accept what I do." - Little Milton[5]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 1-904041-96-5. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Huey, Steve. "Biography: Little Milton". Allmusic.com. Retrieved May 26, 2009. 
  3. ^ "Trumpet Records Diamonds on Farish Street". Retrieved November 6, 2006. 
  4. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 241. CN 5585. 
  5. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 138–139. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 

External links [edit]
Major figures
Major artists
(Atlantic years)
Major artists
(Post-Atlantic)
Modern Stax artists
Related articles
Authority control
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