Blues Musician. Known as the "King of the Slide Guitar," he was one of the first guest stars on the popular "King Biscuit Time" radio show on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, and made early appearances on the "Talaho Syrup Show" on Yazoo City, Mississippi's WAZF and the "Hadacol Show" on KWEM in West Memphis, Tennessee. At Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi, Elmore was recorded at the tail end of a Sonny Boy session doing his signature tune, "Dust My Broom". The record became the surprise R&B hit of 1951, making the Top Ten and making a recording star out of Elmore. Over the next 12 years he would record more than 100 songs for Modern, Chess, Chief, Fire, Fury, and Enjoy Records, and helped define the modern electric Chicago Blues Sound of today. Considered the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period, in 1980, he was elected to the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, in the "Early Influences" category. His songs "Dust My Broom" and "Shake Your Moneymaker" are included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll." He was also immortalized in The Beatles song, "For You Blue." The Elmore James headstone was paid for by Phil Walden of Capricorn Records in 1991 who agreed to do so while under the effects of anesthesia administered by his dentist, who was also the person who sculpted the bronze statue of James that adorns the headstone.
Blues Musician. Known as the "King of the Slide Guitar," he was one of the first guest stars on the popular "King Biscuit Time" radio show on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, and made early appearances on the "Talaho Syrup Show" on Yazoo City, Mississippi's WAZF and the "Hadacol Show" on KWEM in West Memphis, Tennessee. At Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi, Elmore was recorded at the tail end of a Sonny Boy session doing his signature tune, "Dust My Broom". The record became the surprise R&B hit of 1951, making the Top Ten and making a recording star out of Elmore. Over the next 12 years he would record more than 100 songs for Modern, Chess, Chief, Fire, Fury, and Enjoy Records, and helped define the modern electric Chicago Blues Sound of today. Considered the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period, in 1980, he was elected to the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, in the "Early Influences" category. His songs "Dust My Broom" and "Shake Your Moneymaker" are included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll." He was also immortalized in The Beatles song, "For You Blue." The Elmore James headstone was paid for by Phil Walden of Capricorn Records in 1991 who agreed to do so while under the effects of anesthesia administered by his dentist, who was also the person who sculpted the bronze statue of James that adorns the headstone.
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KING OF THE SLIDE GUITAR
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