A mural on Jefferson Street shows Jimi Hendrix jamming with guitarist Johnny Jones. The mural is by Woke3 and ArJae of Norf Art Collective.
Before he was an international superstar, Jimi Hendrix spent a year on Nashville’s Jefferson Street. It’s a chapter in Hendrix’s musical life that many biographers gloss over. In our latest episode of Curious Nashville, we explain why he came here — and what it says today about the city’s most prominent African-American neighborhood.
Our question comes from Curious Nashville listener Joe Gramelspacher:
I understand that Jimi Hendrix played on Jefferson Street. What is the musical history of Jefferson Street?
This piece includes interviews with:
- Fisk University historian Reavis Mitchell
- Bass guitarist and Hendrix collaborator Billy Cox
- Vocalist Frank Howard
- Jefferson Street Sound owner Lorenzo Washington
- Country Music Hall of Fame editor Michael Gray
- Poet and restaurateur Jennifer Carpenter
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM