Jimi Hendrix: A Brother’s Story

While the rest of the world knew the great guitarist as Jimi, Leon Hendrix knew him as “Buster,” his big brother and protector. While Leon clearly idolized his older brother, he tells a balanced and honest story of his parents’ broken marriage and substance abuse, and the peripatetic life he and Jimi led with their father. With the help of Mitchell (co-author of Street Player), Leon, in an informal yet intimate tone, chronicles his own life as much as his brother’s, presenting the divergent paths they took: Jimi channeling his energies into making music while Leon lived a hustler’s life filled with drugs and crime. Mixed in with the Hendrix family melodrama are some great vignettes (Jimi trying to make music with a one-string ukulele or wires and rubber bands)—that truly give a glimpse of the real Jimi behind the on-stage antics and flamboyant clothing. Leon also has some unique insights into Jimi’s music, especially when he opines on the inspiration for some of his brother’s powerful lyrics (he felt “Machine Gun” betrayed Jimi’s “fear and paranoia”). Still, Leon and Jimi spent much of Jimi’s final years apart so there are gaps in the story, and the passages about the Hendrix family’s mismanagement of Jimi’s estate ends on a bitter note. B&W photos not seen by PW). Agent: Alan Nevins.( (May)