How many Elmore James releases are on Riffiter?

92 releases are catalogued, spanning 1960 to 2025.

What genre is Elmore James?

Elmore James is catalogued under Blues.

What is the most recent Elmore James release on Riffiter?

Before the Storm: Where the Blues Began - Vol. 11, released in 2025.

Artist

Elmore James

Elmore James is a blues artist from Richland, USA. 92 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.

Blues · Richland, USA · Best blues albums

92
Releases: 1960–2025
Active years

Discography

92

Upcoming shows

About

James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in Holmes County, Mississippi (not to be confused with two other locations of the same name in 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 this as his name. His parents adopted an orphaned boy at some point named Robert Holston. Elmore began making music at the age of 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, circa 1942, was to Minnie Mae (maiden name unknown? and whom he apparently never divorced). He subsequently married twice more, to Georgianna Crump in 1947 and to a woman called Janice circa 1954. (Another reported marriage of Elmore to a Josephine Harris has been found to be a mistaken record of a different Elmore James.) James (like many other musicians) was strongly influenced by Robert Johnson, as well as by Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red. James recorded several of Tampa's songs, and even inherited from his band two of hi…

Elmore James in brief

How many Elmore James releases are on Riffiter?: 92 releases are catalogued, spanning 1960 to 2025.
What genre is Elmore James?: Elmore James is catalogued under Blues.
What is the most recent Elmore James release on Riffiter?: Before the Storm: Where the Blues Began - Vol. 11, released in 2025.