A compelling portrait of rock's greatest guitarist at the moment of his ascendance, Stone Free is the first book to focus exclusively on the happiest and most productive period of Jimi Hendrix's life. As it begins in the fall of 1966, he's an under-sung, under-accomplished sideman struggling to survive in New York City. Nine months later, he's the toast of Swinging London, a fashion icon, and the brightest star to step off the stage at the Monterey International Pop Festival. This momentum-building, day-by-day account of this extraordinary transformation offers new details into Jimi's personality, relationships, songwriting, guitar innovations, studio sessions, and record releases. It explores the social changes sweeping the U.K., Hendrix's role in the dawning of flower power, and the prejudice he faced while fronting the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In addition to featuring the voices of Jimi, his bandmates, and other eyewitnesses, Stone Free draws extensively from contemporary accounts published in English- and foreign-language newspapers and music magazines. This celebratory account is a must-read for Hendrix fans.
Jas Obrecht is an award-winning music journalist and former editor of Guitar Player magazine. He has written for Rolling Stone, Living Blues, and many other publications. His many books include Talking Guitar: Conversations with Musicians Who Shaped Twentieth-Century American Music. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Title: Stone Free
Author: Jas Obrecht (author)
ISBN: 9781469647067
Binding:
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication Date: 2018-11-30
Number of Pages: 256
Weight: 0.5181 kg
This is the book on Jimi Hendrix I've been waiting for. Jas Obrecht captures the frenzy and the excitement of the most extraordinary moment in rock guitar's history, when Jimi Hendrix reinvents the electric guitar, becomes an international superstar, and stuns his contemporaries into humble self-reevaluation. Each chapter is full of wonderful stories, details, and revelations about Jimi's surprising yet inevitable journey to stardom. I know I'll be re-reading this book for years.- Joe Satriani;
There's a glowing feeling to reading a book you don't want to put down. Stone Free is just that kind of book, narrating the most focused, foretelling, and excitingly magical time of Jimi Hendrix's life. Jas Obrecht brings the reader face to face with Jimi's meteoric rise, breathing the moments. When we look back at that history, we realize it was huge, earthshaking, and one of a kind. You are holding that history now. - Eric Johnson;
Obrecht deftly focuses on Jimi's transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. He tracks Hendrix's movement on virtually a day-to-day basis over ten months when a little-known, uncertain young New York guitarist emerged as the brightest, most powerful new voice in the exploding world of rock music. His research is breathtaking and the fine-point details remarkable. - Joel Selvin, author of Summer of Love;
The story is woven seamlessly from . . . many disparate strands and is a very enjoyable read. - Jimpress: The Jimi Hendrix Magazine
