Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was known as King of the Slide Guitar but he was also noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
AND R.I.P. MR. JAMES...
AND THANK YOU!!!
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED…
Elmore
James releases Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom" …
February 13,
1965:
Jr. Walker and The All Stars enter the US charts for the first time with
"Shotgun", which will make it to #1 on the R&B chart and #4 on
the Pop chart…
February 13,
1969:
The Doors' "Touch Me"
and Sly And The Family Stone's
"Everyday
People" are awarded Gold records…
February 13, 1973:
Billy Preston hits #1 with
"Will It Go Round in Circles"
and #4 with "Space Race"…
FEBRUARY 13th ROCKS
THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL…
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE
GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES
CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED
HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO
INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED.
May 24, 1940: Tommy Chong (Cheech and Chong) hits the planet!
Tommy Chong is a marijuana activist and is a supporter of marijuana legalization and medical use of marijuana. He is a regular contributor to Cannabis Culture Magazine and sits on the NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) advisory board...
MAY 24, 1951: Bob Dylan hits the planet!
May 24, 1955: Chuck Berry hits #2 on the R&B chart with the Chess single "Thirty Days"
May 24, 1963: Elmore James checks out…R.I.P. ELMORE!
May 24, 1969: The Beatles reach #1 with "Get Back"
May 24, 1975: "Shining Star,' from Earth, Wind & Fire's 'That's the Way of the World', reaches #1 on Billboard's singles chart. It earns the first of many Grammys for the group, winning Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group…
THINK ABOUT IT...
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
Jan 27 1918: Blues guitarist Elmore James is born on a farm near Richland, Mississippi, USA.
In 1932, at the age of fourteen, Elmore James, also known as Joe Willie, began playing guitar for parties and dances in the Durant, Mississippi area.
By 1937 James had taken up with musicians Sonny Boy Williamson
and Robert Johnson.
James, would later echo Johnson's slide technique in his own recordings.
After Johnson's death, and up until 1939, James toured the South with Williamson working juke joints and theaters.
He assembled a band in 1939 after parting ways with Williamson.
During the late 1930s or early 1940s James began playing electric guitar. He became a master of using the distortion and sustain of this instrument to create a dense, textured sound that provided the blueprint for postwar Chicago blues.
James was inducted into the Navy in 1943. Back home, in 1945, he was sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson and working the local jukes.
James also began a professional partnership with his guitar-playing cousin
"Homesick" James Williamson,
They worked the blues clubs on Beale Street in Memphis.
BEALE STREET
In 1947, James backed up Sonny Boy on KFFA radio's King Biscuit Time program in Helena, Arkansas.
Helena Bank Building: Original home of King Biscuit Time
During his stint on KFFA, James fell under the spell of Robert Nighthawk, and began refining his style to reflect Nighthawk’s crying slide guitar.
Robert Nighthawk
While working clubs with Williamson in Jackson, Mississippi
James made his first record for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet Label. On August 5, 1951, at the Trumpet Studios, James cut the Robert Johnson chestnut "Dust My Broom" which reached number nine on the national R&B charts within several months of its release.
James established residency in Chicago in 1952 and formed his legendary band the Broomdusters.
While never attaining the fame of fellow Mississippi expatriates Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, James became one of the city's most influential guitarists. He recorded for a variety of labels throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving a legacy of slow blues, boogies, and full-fledged rave ups that dominate the musical vocabulary of Chicago blues.
Elmore James died May 24, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of forty-five.
Elmore James recorded Country Boogie, My Best Friend and I See My Baby, for Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois on January 17, 1953…
COUNTRY BOOGIE
MY BEST FRIEND
I SEE MY BABY
OF COURSE IT WOULD BE EIGHT YEARS LATER (1961) WHEN HE RELEASED MY FAVORITE…
SHAKE YOUR MONEYMAKER
"Shake Your Moneymaker" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”…
Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an Americanbluesguitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.
Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was known as King of the Slide Guitar but he was also noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice…
