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BIOGRAPHY James was born Elmore Brooks in Richland, Mississippi , 10 miles south of Jackson (not to be confused with Ridgeland just north of Jackson). He was the illegitimate son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field hand. His father was probably Joe Willis James, who lived with Leola. He began making music at the age of 12 using a broom wire strung up on a shack wall. As a teen he was playing at local dances, under the names '''Cleanhead''' and '''Joe Willie James'''. At the age of 19 he married Josephine Harris, the first of many wives.Les Fancourt, liner notes to the compilation ''Elmore James: King of the Slide Guitar'' (Charly Records, 2003). His regular gigging enabled him to avoid manual labor to a great extent, and to meet other musicians such as the 'second' Sonny Boy Williamson , and the legendary Robert Johnson . Robert Johnson would be murdered in 1938, but he passed on a lot of musical knowledge to James, including what would become James's trademark song, " Dust My Broom ".Les Fancourt, liner notes to the compilation ''Elmore James: King of the Slide Guitar'' (Charly Records, 2003). Elmore James died of his third Heart Attack in Chicago in 1963 SOUND James played a folk-tinged electric blues similar to that of Muddy Waters , Howlin' Wolf , or John Lee Hooker , but distinguished by its aggressive simplicity. Although he could at times sound as smooth as Buddy Guy , the more raw "Delta sound" was more influential. His best songs, recorded for the Fire label, typically feature symmetrical and driving rhythms, contrasted with wild hollering and bursts of distorted, dissonant guitar, almost reaching into noise. Les Fancourt describes it as a combination of "anguished vocals and a slashing bottleneck guitar sound". A blues fan who saw him play in Chicago in 1959 recalled, "Before we even pushed open the door of the club, we could hear Elmore's violent guitar sound."Les Fancourt, liner notes to the compilation ''Elmore James: King of the Slide Guitar'' (Charly Records, 2003). His best known song is the Blues Standard "Dust My Broom" (also known as "Dust My Blues"). The song gave its name to James's band, The Broomdusters. The song's opening slide guitar Riff is one of the best-known sounds in all of blues. It is essentially the same riff that appears in the recording of the same song by Robert Johnson , but James played the riff with electric slide guitar. It was even transformed into a Doo-wop chorus on Jesse Stone 's "Down in the Alley", recorded by The Clovers and Elvis Presley . Stone transcribed the riff as: "Changety changety changety changety chang chang!" Listen to this 8-second sample of the riff: INFLUENCE Most electric Slide Guitar players will admit to the massive, if not, total influence of James' style. He was also a major influence on rock guitarists such as The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones and Fleetwood Mac's Jeremy Spencer . His songs "Done Somebody Wrong" and " One Way Out " were often covered by The Allman Brothers Band , who cited him as a major influence. James was also covered by blues-rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble many times in concert. The most famous of these covers is one that came by an indirect route - James' fellow bluesman Albert King recorded a cover of "The Sky Is Crying", and Stevie Ray Vaughan copied King's version of the song. That song was also covered by George Thorogood on his second album, " Move It On Over " and by Eric Clapton on his album " There's One In Every Crowd ". Another guitarist who admired Elmore James was Jimi Hendrix . There is a photo of Hendrix (that can be seen in the sleeve of '' Blues '' -album) in London wearing his famous military jacket and holding Elmore James's UK LP The Best Of Elmore James (Hendrix performed James' "Bleeding Heart" during the Experience's Royal Albert Hall concert in 1969, also with the Band of Gypsys at their new years concerts at the Fillmore East in 1969/70 and recorded two different versions of it in the studio). James is mentioned in plays the slide guitar (James' trademark), George Harrison says, "Elmore James got nothin' on this, baby." Other artists influenced by Elmore James include Frank Zappa http://home.online.no/~corneliu/gp83.htm and Jeffrey Evans of the band 68 Comeback.http://www.answers.com/topic/68-comebackhttp://www.epitonic.com/index.jsp?refer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epitonic.com%2Fartists%2F68comeback.html The Grateful Dead , John Primer (''Blue Steel'' CD) Billy Gibbons and Eric Clapton are other notable artists to have recorded Elmore James covers. James's older cousin "Homesick" James Williamson , a regular companion of Elmore's from an early age, played with Elmore in the Broomdusters from 1957 on. He was also a successful blues man who played electric slide guitar in Elmore's style. He continued to record and tour until his death in 2006. DISCOGRAPHY Singles
Original Albums
Compilation Albums
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