Ned TownsIn the 60s Ned Towns worked out of Little Rock, AR releasing a few 45s on his own Skillet label. His first release coupled the easy chugging beat ballad Make A Change (In Your Life) with the similarly paced I Like Company Too. Towns gentle tenor vocals were well modulated and backed by a small group of male backing singers on the flip, enhancing the overall feel of the piece.

But it was his second Skillet 45 that really hits the spot. How Can You Baby-Sit A Man was a superby structured deep soul ballad which has matured into a classic of the genre. But sadly the simple, almost home made production wasn’t sophisticated enough for it to be a big seller despite the fact Atlantic picked it up for national distribution. But Towns' evident sincerity as he asks his unanswerable question, and the excellent organist behind him (Towns himself?) – a guy who had obviously spent a great deal of his time in church – makes this a track to savour. The uptempo top side B-I-N-G-O just wasn’t even in the same league.

I Just Can’t Let You Go from Towns’ third 45 was a rather obvious attempt to follow “baby-sit” but despite this reference still provides further proof of his vocal abilities. He re-used this track on his fourth single which featured the only recording by the excellent Claudia Whitten on the flip.

After these four releases Towns was silent until he returned in the late 80s with a new Skillet 45 this time with a Memphis address. Sadly his version of Barrett Strong’s Money didn’t add anything to the original and the ballad Nighty Night was too full of synths to be memorable. Sad.