ELMORE JAMES – Dust My Broom

Elmore James – Dust My Broom. Due to his early death, just before the 1960s “blues boom”, less is known about James than about other contemporaries such as Muddy Waters, BB King, or Howlin Wolf. There are very few known photos of James performing, and few descriptions of his performances, or of what he was like as a person. This lack of information is exacerbated by the silence of many people who had known him in the Chicago music scene. Although Elmore could be reportedly ‘difficult’ (reportedly drinking on the job, not paying out cash, abandoning musicians, double booking etc.) their ‘conspiracy of silence’ on this remarkable musician, writer and singer does them no credit. “Until he fell foul of the Chicago union”, James and his band the Broomdusters were as popular in the Chicago clubs as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and BB King. James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in Holmes County, Mississippi. He was the illegitimate son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field hand. His father was probably Joe Willie “Frost” James, who moved in with Leola, and so Elmore took James as his surname. His parents adopted an orphaned boy, Robert Holston, at some point. Elmore began making music at age 12 using a simple one-string instrument (‘diddley bow’ or ‘jitterbug’) strung up on a shack wall. As a teen he was playing at local dances under the names “Cleanhead” and “Joe Willie James.” His first marriage was to Minnie Mae in or around 1942, whom he apparently never …