A Good Dusting

Few songs speak more to the roots of blues and blues-rock than ‘Dust My Broom’. It is a signature piece, written in the 1930’s, and has been recorded by many prominent rock and blues singers and guitarists. No one knows for certain who wrote it; it has been attributed to two legendary bluesmen: Robert Johnson and Elmore James, although it is possible that either or both used other songs of the time and altered them to produce their own version.

I hadn't heard or thought about this song for a while until the man known online as Treebeard234 recorded his version for the Vanderbilly.com 'History of Rock' series (see the links at the end of this chapter). His recording was superb, an exceptional rendering of this old blues song, and it led me to go back and listen to other versions. 

The enigmatic Johnson recorded the song, along with several others in November 1936, in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel (now the Sheraton Gunter) on East Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas. Johnson fingerpicked the song in his own style, with the distinct feel of two guitars playing at the same time. It remains a mystery as to how he achieved the effect; many believe he used an unusual tuning. Observers at the session indicated Johnson recorded while facing the wall. Some felt he was trying to keep his technique a secret, while others think the resulting echo improved the sound of his acoustic guitar. 

The 'legend' of Robert Johnson suggests his incredible guitar technique was a result of a midnight meeting at 'The Crossroads', in rural Mississippi. Johnson allegedly made a deal with the devil, supposedly giving Johnson superhuman ability on guitar, with blues music, and with women. Regardless of how he did it, it is still an impressive recording, seemingly playing two parts at the same time.

Keith Richards mentions in his autobiography that after hearing Johnson's recording for the first time, he remarked to Mick Jagger:

"He's great, but who's the other guitar player?"

Keith was shocked when told it was only one man playing on the recording. 

Elmore James recorded the song at least twice, in 1951 for Lilian McMurry and her Trumpet label, and again in 1959. The earlier recording is sparse; James probably used an acoustic guitar with a pickup installed over the sound hole. The later version, a livelier piece with a driving rhythm, is likely an electric guitar, possibly played through a Gibson amp (according to the interview mentioned in the next paragraph).

James' version of Broom was also important in the formation of the Rolling Stones. Jas Obrecht, writer, and former editor for Guitar Player Magazine, wrote in his "Dust My Broom": The Story of A Song:

"In fact, according to Bill Wyman, if Brian Jones hadn't learned to play Elmore's version of 'Dust My Broom', the Rolling Stones as we know them may have never existed."

The story goes that while Mick and Keith were in the process of forming a band, they caught a live stage show in London. Jones was sitting in with Alexis Korner's band, which included pianist Nicky Hopkins (later to record with the Stones), Jack Bruce on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums. Mick and Keith were so impressed with Jones' guitar work on the James classic they asked him to join their as yet incomplete, unnamed band.

The meaning of the phrase 'dust my broom' has been debated for years. Many think it refers to packing up and leaving. It sounds a bit nonsensical though – a broom is the instrument used to do the dusting, so how can you dust your broom?

"It's just a figure of speech," said guitarist Kenny Long. "Because it doesn't make sense, that gives it meaning. As in, normally, you would use the broom to do the dusting, but you're moving out, so you need to dust the broom – get it ready to move on."

Blues guitarist/singer Jack Mayeaux believes the idea for the song came from the bible:

"I always thought that 'Dust My Broom' was based on a biblical reference of Jesus telling his disciples (Matthew 10:14) 'If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town'."

Bob Margolin played guitar for Muddy Waters ('73-'80), and appeared with Muddy in the film The Last Waltz, with The Band. Bob told me: 

"Thinking about the lyrics, I thought 'Dust My Broom' might be another way of saying 'make a clean sweep' - a fresh start, which makes sense with the rest of the lyrics."

Jack Mayeaux feels that Broom is a re-working of the Leroy Carr song Believe I'll Make A Change, recorded some time in the 1920's, and probably written by Robert Johnson: 

"I don't think Elmore recorded it until the early 1950's," said Jack. "So I would have to say that Robert Johnson should get credit for the song using those lyrics."

Treebeard234, of Brisbane, Australia: "It seems likely to me that neither of them actually wrote it from scratch, and that it was probably adapted from other song/songs written in the early '30s. In its current form it was probably written by Johnson, but each player brought their own guitar technique and those techniques have influenced millions of guitar players."

One of the interesting things about artists like Robert Johnson and Elmore James is that many Americans had no idea who these guys were, or how important they were to blues music. Most of us learned about Johnson, James, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Freddie and Albert King (not related), and other now famous bluesmen from British musicians such as John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Keith Richards. 

When I was in high school in the early 1970's, I bought the History of Eric Clapton album (discussed in the chapter Eleven Great Albums). Two of the tracks were Hideaway, and Tribute To Elmore. I had never heard either song, and didn't even know who 'Elmore' was, but I assumed Clapton had written both songs. I recall the first time I heard George Harrison's For You Blue, from the Let It Be album. John Lennon played slide guitar on the track, and during the song you can hear Harrison say:

"Elmore James got nothing on this baby!"

I had no idea who George was talking about, and I didn't realize this Elmore was the same Elmore in Clapton's 'Tribute' song.

Several years later, I was a college DJ, and a band called Rosewater Blue came to town and played a local college bar. I arranged to interview some of them at the radio station the next day. They played Hideaway the night before, and I said to the guitar player:

"Hideaway - great song. Eric Clapton is one of my favorite guitarists."

And he replied: "It's the Freddie King original version that I learned it from."

And of course I said, "Who?" Then something clicked in my brain, and I asked him who 'Elmore' was.

"Oh man," he said with a smile. "We Americans don't even know where this music came from. Most of us – myself included - first thought guys like Clapton and Jimmy Page invented blues. Then we found out where it really came from. It came from Chicago and the Mississippi delta, with guys like Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Freddie King, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and many others."

It wasn't until these British musicians brought their music to the US and began talking about blues and the roots of the music, when most Americans realized we had had it here all along. There had been many attempts to record and promote these original American bluesmen as far back as the 1930's, but for whatever reason, most of us weren't paying attention.

Many feel Dust My Broom is one of the most important pieces of music in history. 

Treebeard told me: "Johnson with his finger technique and James with his slide influenced a range of guitarists across different decades particularly as their music became available on record."

"I think Elmore made it significant in the electric form of blues with his rocking version," said Jack Mayeaux.

Bob Margolin: "The Robert Johnson acoustic version and Elmore James electric version are considered the classics."

British blues musician John Mayall told me in an e-mail interview in response to the question of whether he had a favorite version of Broom:

"I don't really but now [that] you mention it, Robert Johnson's version stands out."

Any such song is likely to be recorded by many others, trying to emulate and/or simply pay tribute to men like Johnson and James. 

Jack Mayeaux: "I must say I recorded it because it is one of my favorites, and I thought Elmore's version was a real good example of open-D tuning slide technique."

I contacted Bob Margolin for this story, as he played guitar on Steven Seagal's album Mojo Priest. Seagal recorded Broomon that album, but Margolin told me he hadn't played the slide guitar part on that version. He had, however, recorded it with his own band in 1990.

"It's hard to do an impressive version or create a personal interpretation when the classic versions are so ubiquitous and great," said Margolin. "That said, in 1990 I recorded a CD with some of my old friends from Muddy Waters' band called 'Chicago Blues' and decided to do 'Dust My Broom' just because our bass player, Calvin 'Fuzz' Jones sang it so well.

"Fuzz had played with Muddy - and before that Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Elmore James. He passed in 2010. Pinetop Perkins and Willie Smith, who were also on Steven Seagal's CD [Mojo Priest] with Fuzz and Hubert Sumlin - all of them passed in 2011. Here they are with me, doing 'Dust My Broom' in 1990. I am trading vocals with Fuzz. The only survivors of this song are me and Kaz Kazanoff, who played sax on it."

John Mayall recorded Broom (as Dust My Blues) on his 1967 album A Hard Road.

"I'll have to say it was just because Peter [Green] was into playing it as part of our show," said Mayall. 

I couldn't tell from the song or my research whether it had been Green or Mayall playing the slide guitar on their recording.

"I can't be sure but I think it's me," Mayall told me. 

The first song on which I had tried to play slide guitar was Dust My Broom. I used the vinyl insert and Arlen Roth's recording from his book Traditional, Country, and Electric Slide Guitar, and tuned to open E. Johnson reportedly used open E, or as some suggest, some sort of unusual tuning, while Elmore James likely used open D for his version. I tried to play the song, but discovered, like Treebeard did, that it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"I had never heard of this song until I saw it in the playlist for the Vanderbilly.com 'History of Rock' project," said Treebeard. "I listened to it and liked the rawness of the recording and decided to do it for the HoR project. I had some idea of Elmore from the Beatles song 'For You Blue'. Naturally I had heard the same slide licks played by many guitarists and was interested in giving them a try. I soon found that there was actually considerable skill involved in playing his signature slide licks exactly the same way that he did."

Now I understand the importance of songs like Dust My Broom, and the men who first recorded it. This classic song represents a seminal moment in the history of popular music – a beginning point for blues, which led to rock and roll. Regardless of who wrote it, the way in which it was first recorded (by Johnson and James), gave us an inspired starting point from which to add our own interpretations.

"It is a pretty basic song," said Mayall, "but it has been a mainstay for a lot of bands. We did it as just another song in our live shows and was appreciated as a guitar feature only for Peter Green in my band."

Every time we listen to one of the many outstanding versions of this great song, we pay tribute to Robert Johnson and Elmore James. The early versions of Broom still capture our attention and imagination; musicians will likely continue to record it in the future. It is the power of music and the power of the blues that makes us continue the tradition begun by those men in the early 1900's.

Part of the reason why musicians play blues is to tell the story of human life, as Jack Mayeaux said:

"To me, blues is the classic human story of conflict and resolution. Sometimes there is no resolution other than to 'Dust your Broom' and move along."

"Both [the Robert Johnson and Elmore James versions] have a spirit of transcending a bad time and moving on," said Bob Margolin. 

Below is a list of various versions of Dust My Broom, recorded by some of the greatest musicians of our era. This is just a partial list – the versions of this great song that to me, stand out as the very best (not in any particular order – okay well, Robert and Elmore's versions are listed first out of deference to their enormous contributions to blues music). There are many more outstanding versions of this song – these are my favorites:

Robert Johnson (The Complete Recordings; King of the Delta Blues Singers.)

Elmore James (Welcome to the Blues; Blues In My Heart, 1959.)

Etta James (Blues to the Bone; accompanied by her sons Donto on drums, Sametto on bass, and Brian Ray on slide guitar.)

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Peter Green (A Hard Road, recorded as Dust My Blues.)

Bob Margolin (Chicago Blues; guitarist for Muddy Waters from 1973-1980; appeared in the film The Last Waltz with Waters on stage with The Band. Also appeared on Johnny Winter’s Nothing But the Blues album, among many others.)

Treebeard (For the Vanderbilly.com ‘History of Rock’ series.)

Jack Mayeaux (Modern day bluesman; for Vanderbilly.com.)

Johnny Winter (with Derek Trucks) (Roots)

Taj Mahal (with Ry Cooder) (Rising Sons)

Carolyn Wonderland (Peace Meal; produced by former Monkee Mike Nesmith.)

Mick Jagger (Mustique Blues Festival 2005)

Steven Seagal (Yes, that Steven Seagal, from the album Mojo Priest.)

Freddie King (Getting Ready)

Albert King (The Definitive Albert King)

Ike and Tina Turner (Bold Soul Sister)

John Hammond, Jr. (Live; son of the Columbia Records executive who had intended to record Robert Johnson, but Johnson died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 27 before Hammond could get him to New York.)

Dion DiMucci (formerly of the doo wop group Dion and the Belmonts.)

Jeff Healey (The Jeff Healey Band)

This piece is a chapter in the book The Toughest Hundred Dollars & Other Rock & Roll Stories by Larry Manch. The book is available for purchase in paperback at the Kindle Store on Amazon.com.

© 2013 Larry Manch