The great Electric slide guitarist Elmore James was born on this day in 1918 in Richmond, MS. There`s no doubt about it, Elmore James was the most influential slide guitarist in the post-war era. James` frenzied, distorted sound influenced such followers as Hound Dog Taylor, J.B. Hutto, and Homesick James, as well as a slew of Blues-Rock guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Johnny Winter, Jeremy Spencer, Duane Allman and many others. Elmore was heavily influenced by Robert Johnson. His first hit Dust My Broom was an electrified version of Johnson`s I Believe I`ll Dust My Broom and gave us a guitar riff played by virtually every budding Blues guitarist. James could write songs, too. He has penned such Blues classics as Shake Your Money Maker, Done Somebody Wrong, and The Sky Is Crying. After returning from a stint in the navy during WW2, Elmore set up shop as a radio repairman. He took up electric guitar and began to re-work his amplifier untill he got a raw, distorted sound that was unmatched by anybody untill the heavy Rock amplifiers of the late 60s. Around this time, Elmore met Sonny Boy Williamson 2 (Rice Miller) and often played on Sonny Boy`s radio show and in area juke joints, as well as on Sonny Boy`s earliest recordings. After James` intitial succes on the Jackson, MS based Trumpet Records, he moved to Chicago to record on the Meteor label, but he often returned to the Delta. Elmore James was an intergral part of the bridging of Delta and Chicago Blues. Elmore James was at the peak of his career and the beginning of the 60s Blues revival when a heart attack cut him down in 1963. Check out The Sky s Crying: The History of Elmore Jame. on Rhino. youtu.be/9jBnaVJPTAI
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 11:32:24 +0000
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