Jimi Hendrix Didn't Know He Was a Genius - Eric Barrett

Eric Barrett spent two years, from 1968 to 1970, as Jimi Hendrix’s road manager and one of the few people the guitarist trusted. In this conversation with Jason Barnard, Barrett talks in a rare interview about his new memoir Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond.

Barrett explains how a job roadying for The Koobas led him from the Beatles’ final UK tour to Keith Emerson’s stage antics with The Nice, and eventually to a chaotic gig in Rome that almost saw him walk away from Hendrix. He describes the two sides of the man he worked for: the guitarist who tore up stages, and the quiet, almost shy man backstage who didn’t see himself as a genius.

There’s a lot here that hasn’t been told before. The racism Hendrix faced touring the American South. The night in Denver when tear gas broke up the show and ended the Experience. The split trousers at the Isle of Wight Festival, patched with a safety pin while Barrett vamped on guitar to cover the gap. And the grim job, after Hendrix’s death, of boxing up his belongings in two countries.

Barrett went on to work with James Taylor, David Bowie and Madonna and many other artists. He also describes the moment he told Bowie the sound at a Diamond Dogs rehearsal wasn’t good enough, and ended up later collaborating with Bowie on his all white stage lighting.