Elmore James

Elmore James was the King of the Slide Guitar, the musician who electrified and amplified the Delta slide tradition into a ferocious, distorted sound that anticipated rock and roll by a decade. His 1951 recording of 'Dust My Broom' for Trumpet Records, featuring a riff derived from Robert Johnson's original but supercharged with electric slide guitar, was a major R&B hit and one of the most recognizable guitar sounds ever recorded. James re-recorded the song and its variants obsessively throughout the 1950s and early 1960s for Fire, Enjoy, Chief, and other labels. His early career was deeply rooted in the King Biscuit/Helena circle alongside Sonny Boy Williamson II, and his band, the Broomdusters, was one of the hardest-hitting combos in Chicago, and his recordings influenced Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and virtually every subsequent slide guitarist. He suffered from chronic heart disease and died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1963 at age 45.