Elmore James
Slide Rules
€6.40
DOWNLOADABLE E-BOOK
Immediately available to your e-mail
Elmore James wasn’t just another bluesman in a sharp suit with a cigarette and a sad story – he was the hurricane that hit the juke joint, the man who plugged in his guitar and, with one steel slide across six strings, changed the sound of American music forever. This ebook is a deep, rowdy, and unfiltered dive into the life, legacy, and loud legacy of the man known as the “King of the Slide Guitar.” Told with wit, grit, and a healthy dose of distortion, it’s not just a biography – it’s a blues-fueled journey through Elmore’s world, from dusty Mississippi porches to roaring Chicago clubs.
With a narrative voice that’s part historian, part jukebox philosopher, this book captures the story of Elmore’s rise from makeshift cigar-box guitars to genre-defining recordings like Dust My Broom and The Sky Is Crying. It follows him through the chitlin’ circuit, the chaos of early recording sessions, the heart problems that shadowed his life, and the army of guitarists – famous, forgotten, and flat-out imitators – who tried to ride the sonic shockwave he left behind. Along the way, it introduces the unforgettable cast of characters that made up his world: bandmates, rivals, legends, and the ever-present amp that was always on the verge of exploding.
Structured into 17 lively, playful chapters with appendices that include a curated discography, gear breakdowns, a timeline, and notable collaborators, the ebook doubles as both storytelling and reference. Whether you’re a lifelong blues fan or someone who just knows that slide guitar makes your bones hum, this is a front-row seat to one of the rawest, realest stories in music history.
Forget the myths. Forget the sanitized documentaries. This is Elmore James as he was: loud, flawed, relentless, and revolutionary. His voice was rough. His playing wasn’t always clean. But his sound? Eternal.
Turn it up.