Before the Wind Cried Mary

A story of the early days of Hendrix, The King Kasuals and the Nashville R&B scene

Image courtesy of the Gilbert Family.

Motown had The Funk Brothers, Stax had The Memphis Horns, Muscle Shoals had The Swampers, and Nashville’s Black music scene had The King Kasuals. Er, wait a minute. Who?

The partnership that existed between Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox and later Johnny Jones as members of The King Kasuals may be a less documented part of his life. But as Jimi once commented, that was when he really learned to play guitar.

The yarn of The King Kasuals (later spelled with a “C”) is hard to pin down fully, since it features numerous personnel changes, and complex amalgamations with other bands. If we are talking origin stories though, that lay with Hendrix and Cox in the very early 1960s while both were still in the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell. Along with fellow soldiers Gary Ferguson on drums and sax player Major Washington, The Kasuals (as they were known then) were a popular act in the servicemen clubs and off-base at the Pink Poodle Club in Clarksville, TN.

ARRIVING AT JEFFERSON STREET

In truth though, Hendrix was never cut out for the military. He often found himself up on report for breaches of protocol and sleeping on duty. Within a year both Hendrix and…