Jimi Hendrix enjoyed the international limelight for less than four years, but his innovative and imaginative interpretations of blues and rock continue to inspire guitarists and music lovers across ages and genre. Coinciding with what would have been Hendrix’s 75th year on this mortal coil is the publication of (incredibly) the first full-blown illustrated book exploring the life and career of the man many consider the greatest rock guitarist of all time. Seattle-based music journalist Gillian Gaar (and contributor to Life Elsewhere) joins Norman B to talk about Hendrix: The Illustrated Story, focusing in on the guitarist’s upbringing, his service as an Army paratrooper, his role as a sideman on the chitlin’ circuit, his exile in the UK, and his eventual reemergence in the US and the fame that followed until his untimely death in 1970.
