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Copyright © 2002-2004
by James P. Hauser except where otherwise noted.  All rights reserved.

The Blues Connections Of

JIMI HENDRIX (page 2)

Jimi Hendrix's Record Collection

What kind of music did Jimi Hendrix like most? The Blues!, man, sho 'nuf the blues. That's according to an article entitled "Jimi Hendrix' Personal Record Collection" which appeared in the April 1996 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Hendrix's former girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham-Page, was interviewed for the article, and she pointed out that the music that he liked the most and that he played in his home was the blues.

And the article's description of Hendrix's record collection offers up plenty of evidence to back up his girlfriend's claim. The collection included many blues albums, plus some folk, jazz, classical, and even comedy LP's. (According to Etchingham, Bill Cosby's, I Started Out as a Child was Jimi's favorite album.) The blues albums identified in the article are listed below. Some of them are probably very hard to get your hands on today. You might notice that there are no B.B. King albums--according to the article, Jimi did own some B.B. King albums, but they had all been "permanently borrowed".

Blind Blake: Bootleg Rum Dum Blues

Lowell Fulsom: Lowell Fulsom (self-titled album on the Arhoolie label)

Guitar Slim and Jelly Belly: Carolina Blues (See Note 2 below)

John Lee Hooker: Live at Cafe Au Go-Go

Lightnin' Hopkins: Soul Blues, Lightnin' Strikes, Something Blue, The Roots of Lightnin' Hopkins, Earth Blues

Howlin' Wolf: More Real Folk Blues

Elmore James: The Best of Elmore James

Robert Johnson: See Note 3 below

Leadbelly: Take This Hammer

John Mayall: Crusade, Hard Road, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

Charlie Musselwhite: Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite's Southside Band

Jimmy Reed: The New Jimmy Reed Album

Smokey Smothers: The Driving Blues of Smokey Smothers

Washboard Sam: Classic Blues

Muddy Waters: Down On Stovall's Plantation, Electric Mud, The Real Folk Blues, More Real Folk Blues

Junior Wells: It's My Life Baby

Sonny Boy Williamson I (aka John Lee Williamson): Classic Blues

Sonny Boy Williamson II (aka Rice Miller): Down and Out Blues, More Real Folk Blues

BLUES COLLECTIONS:

American Folk Blues Festival

Chicago/The Blues Today

Original Golden Hits of the Great Blues Singers, Vol. 2

We Sing the Blues

Explanatory Notes to above list:

Note 1: The source for the above information is an article entitled "Jimi Hendrix' Personal Record Collection" written by James Rotondi. It appeared in Guitar Player magazine's April 1996 issue [v. 30, no. 4, p. 37(4)].

Note 2: Several blues musicians recorded and performed under the name Guitar Slim. The most famous and successful was Eddie Jones. He's probably most famous for writing and recording the classic "The Things That I Used to Do". He played great electric guitar and was a big influence on Buddy Guy. Another blues guitarist who used the moniker Guitar Slim was Alec Seward. He played acoustic guitar and is not nearly as well-known as Jones. Seward is the Guitar Slim who teamed up with Jelly Belly (a.k.a. Louis Hayes) to record the album listed above, Carolina Blues. It's possible that Hendrix acquired this album in error, mistakenly thinking that it contained the music of Eddie Jones rather than Alec Seward.

Note 3: Robert Johnson recorded about 30 songs in total, all in the years 1936 and 1937. Many of these recordings were originally released on the old 78 rpm records and others remained officially unreleased until collected on albums many years later. Before these albums were released, blues fans and collectors got their hands on Johnson's music through the rare 78s and bootlegged records and tapes. Robert Johnson's recordings were first issued in album form by Columbia as two separate albums. First, in the year 1961, Columbia released the album King of the Delta Blues Singers. This was followed in 1970 by Columbia's King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume 2.

The article on Hendrix's record collection states that Jimi had one of the Columbia albums, but doesn't mention which one. He died in September 1970, so it's possible that his collection included the second album rather than the first. But if the article is correct in putting forth that the record collection was built between the years 1966 and 1969, then Hendrix must have owned the first Columbia album. A list of the tracks on each album is below. (In 1990, Columbia released Robert Johnson:The Complete Recordings, a massively successful boxed set which included all of Johnson's recordings including a bunch of alternate takes.)

King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume 1:

Crossroads Blues, Terraplane Blues, Come On In My Kitchen, Walking Blues, Last Fair Deal Gone Down, 32-20 Blues, Kindhearted Woman Blues, If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day, Preaching Blues, When You Got a Good Friend, Rambling On My Mind, Stones In My Passway, Travelling Riverside Blues, Milkcow's Calf Blues, Me and the Devil Blues, Hellhound On My Trail

King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume 2:

Kind-Hearted Woman Blues, I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, Sweet Home Chicago, Rambling On My Mind, Phonograph Blues, They're Red Hot, Dead Shrimp Blues, Preachin' Blues, I'm a Steady Rollin' Man, From Four Till Late, Little Queen of Spades, Malted Milk, Drunken-Hearted Man, Stop Breakin' Down Blues, Honeymoon Blues, Love in Vain

The first volume of King of the Delta Blues Singers contains most of Robert Johnson's best and most influential songs. Greil Marcus, in his excellent book Mystery Train, praises it as the best album ever produced by the recording industry. He also points out that volume 2 was released in response to Cream's 1968 recording of Johnson's great "Crossroads" (aka "Crossroads Blues") and the Rolling Stones' 1969 cover of the classic "Love in Vain". The original recording of "Love in Vain" by Johnson was not even officially released until after the Stones cover; it appeared on King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume 2 which was released in 1970. Volume 2 contains more great recordings from Johnson including the blues standards  "Sweet Home Chicago" and "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" plus alternate takes of some songs from volume 1. Volume 1 may be the greater album, but they're both absolutely Klutch Kargo!

The AKA Blues Connection
It's where the Southern cross the Dog!

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