Roy Milton - Early In The Morning / Bless Your Heart (Warwick M 549)

Recorded in 1960. Released in May 1960. Probable personnel: Roy Milton (vocal) accompanied by possibly Vernon "Jake" Porter (cornet); John "Streamline" Ewing (trombone) Jackie Kelso (alto sax); Jack McVea (tenor sax); John Creach (violin); Robbin Webb (piano); unknown (organ); Billy Hadnott (bass); Oscar Bradley Jr. (drums); female vocal group (The Tiaras?) on "Bless Your Heart"

Billboard review, 20th May 1960:

"Early In The Morning - Here's a tune written by Milton himself and it's done to an old-style big band arrangement. Milton sounds good on the blues message, however."

"Bless Your Heart - Here's a fine tune sung in hip style by Milton, the blues singer. Fem chorus and a slightly swinging violin add interest. This can get spins because of its offbeat touches."

Releases: Lou Wa 1002 in 1960; Warwick M 549 in 1960; Sue (UK) WI - 4021 in 1966, but wrongly attributed to Little Milton. "Early In The Morning" was originally recorded by Roy Milton in 1953 and released on Specialty 464 (B Side was "Let Me Give You All My Love").

Once more we have Corky to thank for another Roy Milton single from late in his career. "Early In The Morning" (not to be confused with the Louis Jordan song with the same title) is a good blues which grows on you after a few plays. Roy originally recorded this tune for Specialty back in 1953. You can hear the original version on YouTube by clicking on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANFnRnaveg

The original version was posted by RPMmanToledo Ohio. He has a whole load of rips from 78 rpm discs and his posts are well worth checking out. The contrast between the two versions of "Early In The Morning" is interesting especially as the 1953 cut has some neat guitar licks.

The Sue Records issue features in this post on Paul's Sue Records UK blog -

https://suerecordsuk.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/little-milton-early-in-the-morningbless-your-heart/

There's a label shot complete with the mistaken attribution of the disc to Little Milton!

"Bless Your Heart" is a rather more sentimental offering complete with violin played by Papa John Creach. Sounds ominous, but it works out OK!

Many thanks to Corky for ripping the sound files from the original Warwick 45 rpm and also for the label shots. There's a couple more late Roy Milton tracks in the pipeline! Stay tuned, fellow hipsters.