Where was Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Red House’?
As a guitarist, Jimi Hendrix could do it all. While he’s most celebrated for his electrifying hard rock, which set the stage for everyone from Eddie Van Halen to Sonic Youth, his foundation was deeply rooted in the blues. The genre’s pioneers were instrumental in shaping his style, and through his self-taught genius, Hendrix transformed their influence into some of the most accomplished and innovative blues playing ever heard.
You could argue that the emotive ‘Little Wing’ is Hendrix’s finest accomplishment in this area, but another highlight is undoubtedly ‘Red House’, one of his earliest cuts that remained a staple of his live shows until the very end. A slower, more traditional composition in the musical form of a standard 12-bar blues, it features the classic warmth of the late artist’s vocal delivery and some of his finest soloing.
‘Red House’ is a standout track from The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album, Are You Experienced, released in 1967. Universally acknowledged as one of his blues masterpieces, the song had been gradually crafted over the years, with Hendrix refining it while performing with various projects prior to its recording.
It has been argued that ‘Red House’ originates in the song ‘California Night’, which Hendrix performed when playing in Curtis Knight and the Squires between 1965 and 1966. Allegedly, that track was originally recorded by the blues great Albert King in 1961 as ‘Travelin’ to California’. It is also a slow blues that contains the classic lyrics about a rambling man and lost love.
Later in his career, when Hendrix was on the verge of becoming the icon he’s esteemed as today, he fronted Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. During their pivotal residency at New York’s Cafe Wha?, which saw him noticed and whisked to London by Chas Chandler, he developed the song into the form that can be heard on Are You Experienced.
So, where was Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Red House’?
The location of the titular ‘Red House’ has long puzzled fans, and, unfortunately, it seems that it is not based on a real place. However, it’s widely believed that the song was inspired by real experiences and emotions in Hendrix’s life.
Experience bassist Noel Redding said Hendrix wrote the song about his high school girlfriend, Betty Jean Morgan, with whom his brother Leon Hendrix agrees. However, he said that the track contained flecks of her sister Maddy and noted that their house was actually brown.
Elsewhere, it has been heavily suggested that ‘Red House’ was inspired by Linda Keith, who first discovered Hendrix at Cafe Wha? and suggested Chandler check him out. Famously, she was the girlfriend of Rolling Stones lead guitarist Keith Richards at the time. Hendrix and Keith would reportedly stay at her friend’s Manhattan apartment, which featured red velvet walls and decor, during the summer of 1966, and she is said to have called it the “red house”.
Interestingly, when Hendrix performed ‘Red House’ at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, he dedicated the song to Keith and added the lyrics: “I got to get out of here, because my Linda don’t live here no more”.
Pouring cold water on the existence of real ‘Red House’ is post-Experience Hendrix bassist Billy Cox, who once said: “As far as I know, ‘Red House’ didn’t have any significance in reference to a particular person, place, or thing. It was just a blues number that Jimi put together”.
