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Tape Announcement Hand In Hand Take 1 Tape Announcement I Have A Right To Love My Baby Hand In Hand Take 2 ( Last Verse) Tape Announcement Hand In Hand Take 3 Hand In Hand Take 4 Everyday I Have The Blues Tape Announcement and Speech Dust My Broom Tape Announcement It Hurts Me Too Tape Announcement Talk To Me Baby False Start Talk To Me Baby Tape Announcement And Speech I Can't Stop Loving Tape Announcement Got To Move Tape Announcement Pickin The Blues or Manhattan Slide Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was known as “King of the Slide Guitar“ and was noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice. For his contributions to music, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. James was born Elmore Brooks in Richland, Holmes County, Mississippi, the illegitimate son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field father was probably Joe Willie “Frost“ James,who moved in with Leola, and Elmore took his surname. He began making music at the age of 12, using a simple one-string instrument (diddley bow, or jitterbug) strung on a shack wall. As a teen he performed at dances under the names Cleanhead and Joe Willie James. He married Minnie Mae about 1942. James was influenced by Robert Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red. He recorded several of Tampa Red's songs. He also inherited from Tampa Red's band two musicians who joined his own backing band, the Broomdusters, “Little“ Johnny Jones (piano) and Odie Payne (drums).There is a dispute about whether Johnson or James wrote James's signature song, “Dust My Broom“. In the late 1930s, James worked alongside Sonny Boy Williamson II. During World War II, James joined the United States Navy, was promoted to coxswain and took part in the invasion of his discharge, he returned to central Mississippi and settled in the town of Canton with his adopted brother Robert Holston. Working in Holston's electrical shop, he devised his unique electric sound, using parts from the shop and an unusual placement of two DeArmond pickups. Around this time James learned that he had a serious heart condition. He began recording with Trumpet Records in nearby Jackson in January 1951, first as a sideman again for Sonny Boy Williamson II and for their mutual friend Willie Love and possibly others. He made his debut as a session leader in August with “Dust My Broom“, which was a surprise R&B hit in 1952. His backing musicians became known as the Broomdusters. James died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1963, as he was about to tour Europe with that year's American Folk Blues Festival. He was buried in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ebenezer, Mississippi. Phil Walden of Capricorn Records raised funds for a granite headstone for James' grave. The headstone which reads “King of the Slide Guitar“, features a bronze relief of James playing guitar. It was revealed at a dedication ceremony sponsored by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund in 1992.
