Dust My Broom

Elmore James was a radio repairman with a famously weak heart when he entered a studio for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet label. He took Robert Johnson's acoustic country blues standard 'I Believe I'll Dust My Broom' and radically transformed it. By heavily amplifying his acoustic guitar and playing an aggressive, descending slide triplet, James created the most recognizable opening riff in the history of the blues. He was reportedly so nervous about recording that he left the studio after only a few takes, but that single session yielded an electrified masterpiece that forever changed the sound of the slide guitar.