07/20/2025
On This Day in 1969, Jimi Hendrix signed an $18,000 contract to headline the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, with an additional $12,000 promised for appearing in the film. At the time, only 60,000 tickets had been sold, and organizers expected fewer than 100,000 attendees.
For the performance, Jimi envisioned a bigger, more expansive band. According to Billy Cox, this wasnโt a spur-of-the-moment decisionโJimi had long dreamed of adding a second guitarist. Though he could have chosen virtually anyone, he asked Billy to track down Larry Lee, an old acquaintance from their Nashville days.
โ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ,
๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฉ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฉ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฎ,โ Billy remembers.
So why Larry, of all the guitarists Jimi had access toโincluding big-name players already in the spotlight? Billy explains:
โ๐๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช, ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ. ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ.โ
Naturally, management was less than thrilled with Jimiโs growing roster. Even the drummer was an unknown variable. Jimi wasnโt sure Mitch Mitchell would return from England in time, and just weeks before Woodstock, he was still auditioning other drummers.
To complicate matters further, Jimi added percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez into the mix.
The early rehearsalsโbefore Mitch arrivedโconsisted of stripped-down acoustic sessions between Jimi, Billy, and Juma. According to Juma, they were magical:
โ๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐จ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ข, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.โ
Mitch finally showed upโjust four days before the showโafter nearly a month of rehearsals at the Shokan house. His sudden arrival, along with the presence of unfamiliar musicians, threw things off. As Jerry later reflected:
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉโ๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด.โ
It wasnโt just Mitch who was thrown off. Managementโparticularly Michael Jeffreyโwas uneasy. After all, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, as a trio with Mitch and Noel Redding, was a major part of their brand.
Things started to get murky behind the scenes, with questionable moves that seemed designed to hold the band back.
Billy Cox recalls the tension vividly, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐จ๐ช๐จ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.โ
Despite the chaos swirling around him, Gypsy Sun and Rainbows took the stage at Woodstock just after 9 a.m. on a Monday morningโhours after the festival was technically over. Half the crowd had already gone home, but what followed was a raw, unfiltered performance that would become one of the most iconic in rock history.
It wasnโt the slickest show he ever played, nor the most rehearsed. But in that moment, with the sun rising and the world watching, Jimi made a statementโnot just with the โStar-Spangled Banner,โ but with his choice of band, his vision, and his refusal to be boxed in.
To steady himself amid the storm, Jimi reached not forward, but backwardโback to the days before fame, before contracts and courtrooms. He brought with him Billy Cox, the bassist who once stood beside him on small stages in Nashville, and Larry Lee, a guitarist whoโd taught him so much. It was more than nostalgiaโฆ
It was Jimi reclaiming a part of himself
the industry couldnโt touch.
Whatever forces tried to sabotage the new group behind the scenes couldnโt stop what happened on that stage. For all its flaws and tensions, the Woodstock band captured something pure: Jimi Hendrix pushing beyond expectations fulfilling his own musical vision.
