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Just like his 1968 Chess album proclaims, Little Milton sings big blues. Born Milton Campbell in 1934 in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness, the accomplished singer, guitarist and songwriter got the fire for the blues listening to Louis Jordan's nightly radio show, and hearing the likes of T-Bone Walker, Roy Brown, and Big Joe Turner on the jukebox. From his initial local successes through his Sixties triumphs "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It" for Chess's Checker subsidiary, through subsequent stints on Stax and TK and his current sixteen year-long relationship with the Malaco label, the stylistically diverse Milton has amassed one of the most consistently listenable catalogues in the blues genre. He shows his characteristic versatility to good advantage on his 1999 release, Welcome to Little Milton, which features collaborations with a wide range of artists, including Lucinda Williams, blues-rap combo G. Love & Special Sauce, ex-J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf, and roots-rocker Dave Alvin. Bluesblitz recently caught up with Milton, and got the lowdown on where he's at and where he's been ...
BluesBlitz: You came from the Delta, but as a kid you listened to all kinds of music, and you've strived to avoid a narrow classification ...
Little Milton: I was fortunate to learn from Sonny Boy Williamson [Rice Miller], Willie Love, Joe Willie Wilkins, and Elmore James. They played regular Delta country blues... I was too small to go into the clubs. I remember when I was a kid, standing on a barrel outside the club where Gatemouth Brown was playing, listening and peeping through the windows until somebody run us away. I always listened to a mixture of recording artists: Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett ...
BB: Early on, you played guitar with Willie Love, and also with Sonny Boy.
LM: Well, the two of 'em worked together. Most times it would be the three of us; for a long time it was the four of us, but if Joe Willie would go visit his people, it was three of us. Sometimes, Elmore James would play with us. Back then, it wasn't important whose band it was - whoever got the job, that was the name for the gig. These guys were great friends, they stuck together and took care of each other. Sonny Boy was very straightforward; if he didn't like you, he'd tell you to your face. He was a big man with a big heavy voice, and if you didn't know him he'd scare you to death! [laughs] If you got to know him, he was a warm and caring person.
Elmore was more or less of a loner. Back then all you needed was a microphone, a guitar and an amplifier and you were in business. I wouldn't trade that time for the world. I learned so much from them: self-respect, not to think that you're God's gift to the world of music, that without the people who were supportin' you, you were nothing. I carry that with me today. |
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