Browsing: Elmore James

This tribute album puts iconic tunes like “Shake Your Moneymaker,” “Look on Yonder Wall,” and “Person to Person” alongside songs known mainly by James aficionados.

“In another instance, a farmer removed the headstones from a cemetery, plowed over the land and planted cotton in place of the markers…”

Maxwell Street was where Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, “Maxwell Street” Jimmy Davis and other legendary blues artists played their first performances! Check out the newest LOTB!

As a kid, Elmore James taught himself to play guitar by stringing up a broom wire on the side of his house. Fitting, that a broom wire would be the origin of what some say is the most recognizable lick in the blues…

Sweeping the house after dark is still considered impolite in some African American families. This tradition comes from an ancient West African belief…

Duane Allman’s favorite tuning was pioneered by none other than Robert Johnson and Son House. Discover “Cross-Spanish” and it’s huge significance to the blues in this week’s column!

Although early slide guitar players used knives and bones as slides, blues guitarists soon broke the necks off of bottles for slides. Read all about the guitar slide and it’s incredible place in history!!

How did this fabulous effect that gives a musician the sound of a giant concert hall become available even when crammed into an enclosure of plywood, wires and knobs no bigger than a lunchbox?

“I believe I’ll dust my broom”, as both a phrase and a song, has been a blues staple for 75 years. Versions of the song’s melody and phrase “I believe I’ll” have been around even longer. Learn about the iconic tune!

Trumpet records began it’s existence in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951 because of a forgotten pile of records. It lasted only five years, but it’s brief time made a enduring impact on musical history.