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New Jimi Hendrix Tune, ‘Station Break,’ Debuts Online After 50 Years

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 12:58 PST, Mar 9, 2015

A brand new tune by Jimi Hendrix, recorded prior to the founding of his solo career and never before made available to the public, has been released online ahead of a new collection of rare and unheard tracks by the legendary guitarist.

The tune, “Station Break,” dates to a time before Jimi Hendrix was discovered by Animals bassist Chas Chandler, according to the Daily Beast. During this period of Hendrix’s all-too-short career, the guitarist was working as a sideman for a variety of acts, including Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and Wilson Pickett. In 1965, Hendrix spent eight months with Curtis Knight and the Squires, a New York City based R&B act, and it is during this time that “Station Break” was recorded.

“Station Break” has been released ahead of a forthcoming compilation album, You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight and the Squires (Featuring Jimi Hendrix) – The RSVP/PPX Sessions, which will include 14 tracks recorded by Hendrix between 1965 and 1967 for PPX Enterprises, according to Rolling Stone. The guitarist signed a notorious recording contract with PPX owner Ed Chalpin, which earned Hendrix just $1 and one percent of royalties for his work with the label, leading to legal quarrels that continued well past Hendrix’s death.

Though Chaplin flooded the market with recordings after the guitarist achieved success, claiming that they were official releases, Jimi Hendrix himself derided the tracks in a 1968 Rolling Stone interview, calling them “worthless” and asserting that they were hastily composed and recorded.

The new album is just a sample of the 88 tracks which Experience Hendrix LLC, a company founded by Jimi’s father to oversee his son’s work, managed to acquire last year after decades of legal wrangling. Original Jimi Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer spearheaded a restoration of the tracks, which required “forensic” reconditioning.

Janie Hendrix, the guitarist’s sister, noted that the recordings represent a significant period in her late brother’s musical evolution.

“What makes [the recordings] so special is that they provide an honest look at a great artist during the pivotal time when he was on the cusp of his breakthrough, a time when Jimi’s Number One priority was playing and recording, and this set captures him doing just that, both as a collaborator and an innovator.”

Last year, a Hendrix biopic, Jimi: All is By My Side, was released. As the Inquisitr previously reported, it featured Andre 3000 in the lead role.

You Can’t Use My Name will be released on March 24 in a variety of formats. In the meantime, fans can head to the Daily Beast to stream “Station Break,” the new Jimi Hendrix tune.

[Photo by Evening Standard/ Getty Images]

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