Acetate Recording of "Hey Joe" / "Stone Free", November 1966

This is an acetate recording, circa November 1966, of the Jimi Hendrix Experience single, “Hey Joe” backed with “Stone Free”. Acetates are fragile discs made of aluminum, coated in lacquer, and encoded with audio via a cutting lathe. Jimi Hendrix may have had this copy made after a recording session to listen to the songs at home. 

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who gained mainstream prominence in the late 1960s with hits such as “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Fire,” and is now celebrated as one of the most influential electric guitarists of all time. 

On October 23, 1966, Jimi Hendrix entered De Lane Lea Studios with Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding and recorded the A-side of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s upcoming debut single, “Hey Joe,” a cover of an American Folk song by Billy Roberts. Chas Chandler believed British audiences would respond well to the soulful number. The flip side, “Stone Free,” a blues-inflected, upbeat rocker, was Hendrix’s first original composition with the Experience. Released on December 16, 1966, the single marked the start of an enduring fascination for many Londoners with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.