Episode 5

Hired and Fired by Little Richard, and a Maiden Acid Trip Opens Jimi’s Eyes

Jimi Hendrix’s early days as a guitar player on the Chitlin Circuit put him on stage with a who’s who of R&B royalty. The Isley Brothers. Solomon Burke. Bobby Womack. Curtis Mayfield. Ike & Tina. And none other than the Originator himself, Little Richard, who wouldn’t hesitate to fire the greatest guitar player he’d ever seen for insubordination. The experiences opened his eyes. And then his eyes were opened even wider by a maiden voyage on LSD…

Sources:

Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, by Charles Cross

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, by Harry Shapiro & Caesar GlebbeekBecoming Jimi Hendrix, by Stephen Roby

Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, by Peter Guralnick

The Life and Times of Little Richard, by Charles White

Jimi Hendrix (1973 film)‘How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock’n’roll star,’ by Edward Helmore (Linda Keith interview)

Credits:

Scored and co-written by Jake Brennan.

Written, edited, and co-produced by Zeth Lundy.

Mixed, engineered, and additional scoring by Sean Cahalin and Matt Beaudoin.

Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.

Produced by Jake Brennan in for Double Elvis in partnership with iHeart Radio.

Illustrations by Matt Nelson.

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