Elmore James: The King of the Slide Guitar
Frank Zappa once joked that Elmore James made a career playing “the same song for twelve years.” While that’s an exaggeration, there’s truth to it. The opening riff to “Dust My Broom” – that swooping, full-octave slide figure – became so famous that James used variations of it throughout his career. The Library of Congress called it “the most recognizable guitar riff in the history of the blues.” James recorded the song multiple times under different titles, and other artists have been playing that riff ever since. But to dismiss him as a one-trick player misses the point entirely. Elmore James took Robert Johnson’s Delta blues and electrified it with an intensity that helped birth rock and roll.
From Diddley Bow to the Delta
Elmore Brooks was born January 27, 1918, in Richland, Mississippi. His mother Leola was 15 years old and worked as a field hand. He took the surname James from Joe Willie “Frost” James, likely his father. At 12, he started making music on a diddley bow – a one-string instrument made from broom wire strung on a shack wall. By his teens, he was playing actual guitars at local dances, performing under the names “Cleanhead” and “Joe Willie James.”
In the late 1930s, James encountered Robert Johnson, the Delta blues legend who would shape his entire approach to guitar. Johnson showed him how to use a slide – a metal or glass tube worn on the finger – to create that haunting, vocal-like sound. James learned Johnson’s version of “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom,” and it stuck with him. He also performed regularly with harmonica player Aleck “Rice” Miller, who was calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson II.
James enlisted in the Navy during World War II and served as a coxswain during the invasion of Guam. When he returned to Mississippi in 1945, he settled in Canton with his adopted brother Robert Holston, who ran an electrical repair shop. Working there, James learned about electronics and started modifying his guitar setup. He experimented with DeArmond pickups and different amplifier configurations, searching for a louder, more aggressive sound. Around this same time, doctors told him he had a serious heart condition.
The Broom That Swept the Charts
In August 1951, James recorded “Dust My Broom” at a small studio in Jackson, Mississippi. Sonny Boy Williamson played harmonica on the session. The song was James’ electrified take on Robert Johnson’s acoustic original, but his version hit harder. That opening slide riff – starting low and screaming up an entire octave – cut through everything else on the radio. The single climbed to number nine on the R&B charts in 1952, and suddenly James was in demand.
He moved between Mississippi and Chicago throughout the 1950s, leading his band the Broomdusters. The group featured his cousin Homesick James on bass and rivaled Muddy Waters’ band as one of Chicago’s top electric blues outfits. Belgian blues fan George Adins saw James perform in Chicago in 1959 and later recalled that he was “the most exciting, dramatic blues singer and guitarist” he’d ever seen live. Adins described James’ guitar sound as “violent” and said the entire club was “rocking, swinging.”
James recorded for several labels during the 1950s – Flair, Meteor, Modern, Chess, and Chief among them. He also played lead guitar on Big Joe Turner’s 1954 hit “TV Mama.” In 1959, he began recording for Bobby Robinson’s Fire Records, which gave him his best sound. Robinson knew how to record loud, and he let James’ fierce playing dominate. These sessions produced “The Sky Is Crying,” “My Bleeding Heart,” “Shake Your Moneymaker,” and other classics that became blues standards.
One Riff, A Thousand Variations
James never strayed far from that “Dust My Broom” riff. He recorded the song multiple times under slightly different titles – “Dust My Blues,” “Dust My Broom,” variations in arrangement and lyrics. Critics called him a one-lick wonder, but that missed what made him special. James played with unstoppable rhythm and ferocious, anguished vocals. His slide work wasn’t about virtuosity – it was about intensity. That riff worked because it felt urgent every single time.
His guitar sound came from a modified hollow-body acoustic that he amplified heavily, often with reverb cranked up. It sounded rougher and more raw than the solid-body electrics that other players were starting to use. Combined with his high-pitched, shouted vocals, James created blues that demanded movement. You couldn’t sit still listening to him.
Rock musicians heard that intensity and ran with it. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones called himself “Elmo Lewis” early on as a tribute to his hero. Jimi Hendrix performed as “Jimmy James” and recorded James’ “Bleeding Heart” multiple times. Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and George Thorogood all covered his songs. The Beatles referenced him in “For You Blue,” with George Harrison joking that “Elmore James got nothin’ on this, baby” while John Lennon played slide.
James’ health problems never went away. He suffered heart attacks in the 1950s and had to cut back on performing. On May 24, 1963, he had a third heart attack at his cousin Homesick James’ house in Chicago. He was 45 years old and had been preparing to tour Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival. He’s buried in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery in Ebenezer, Mississippi. His headstone reads “King of the Slide Guitar” and features a bronze relief of him playing guitar.
The Blues Foundation inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1980. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame followed in 1992. “Dust My Broom” was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and selected for the National Recording Registry in 2013.
Suggested Listens:
- “Dust My Broom” (1951) – The original that made him famous. That opening slide riff still sounds fresh more than 70 years later.
- “Shake Your Moneymaker” (1961) – Up-tempo number that demonstrates why his band could pack clubs. Raw, driving blues that influenced early rock and roll.
- “The Sky Is Crying” (1959) – A slow blues that showcases his emotional vocal delivery and expressive slide work. Covered by everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Eric Clapton.
