Milton Nascimeto

Little Milton may not have been the greatest R&B artist or the greatest blues artist or the greatest soul artist of all time, but he and Bobby Bland were easily the two best ever at incorporating all three genres into all their work for many decades. "Grits Ain't Groceries" is sheer late-'60s R&B greatness - an exciting, rollicking remake of the Titus Turner tune that turned out to be Little Willie John's début hit [#5 R&B] in 1955 (then titled "All Around the World"). Little Milton scored a #13 soul / # 73 pop hit with it. I thought its passionately powerful and smoldering Chicago blues B-side "I Can't Quit You Baby" (co-written by Milton, and with that dazzling guitar I mentioned) made it an unbeatable combination, worthy of of #1 - at least on the soul charts…

Here's Little Milton's superstar album, finding the R&B legend performing duets with the likes of Lucinda Williams, Keb' Mo', Peter Wolf, Dave Alvin, Delbert McClinton, Gov't Mule, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Susan Tedeschi. By far the most interesting track is John Sinclair's recitation of "Mother Earth" preceding the duet between Milton and Tedeschi of it. While this collection of celebrity duets has its moments, one would definitely want to look elsewhere to start a Little Milton collection.