Search - Elmore James :: Sky Is Crying: Charly Blues Masterworks 12

This great Chicago slide guitarist, who died in 1963, contributed several standards to the blues lexicon, including "Dust My Broom," "The Sun Is Shining" and "Madison Blues." His full, raw sound was a precursor to early rock & roll. (Not to mention George Thorogood and Stevie Ray Vaughan, both of whom made big bucks covering James.) This 21-song collection, a single-disc complement to 1992's box set The Elmore James Story, is a godsend, combining James's best material from his many '50s record labels. It contains James's most familiar titles, of course, plus revelations like "Rollin and Tumblin," a slurred, forceful 1960 single that might otherwise be forgotten. Steve Knopper