When you ask someone to name modern influential blues artists, the same ones will generally crop up: BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker. Never in this group is Elmore James mentioned, except by the most knowledgeable. And that is largely due to the fact that he was dead by the time of the blues revival in the ‘60s. In fact, James did not even record until he was 34, retired for four years due to a heart condition, and died at 45. So the span of his entire professional career was no more than seven years.
But listen to any blues-rock bands and you will hear his influence everywhere. Early Fleetwood Mac covered Dust Your Broom, Shake Your Moneymaker, Something Inside Me and The Sky Is Cryin’. The Butterfield Blues Band covered Look On Yonder Wall. The Allmans did Done Somebody Wrong. Stevie Ray, Clapton, George Thorogood and many others also played these songs. This album contains all of this and much more.
Recorded between 1959 and 1961 these sessions show James at his peak and are his last studio recordings. The guitarist had a distinctive sound when using a slide. It had a high-pitched, human sounding character that provided counterpoint to James’ vocals. When not playing slide he plays much lower with an almost country-western sound. His bands throughout this period are varied—sometimes using horns, sometimes harmonica, and sometimes a simple trio format. All of his lyrics center on the theme of alienation and loss of place in the world. He is also the only bluesman I know of who references the violence of World War II in his lyrics (Look On Yonder Wall).
These are key recordings for anyone interested in blues.
