You could say Andy Fairweather Low has a charmed life. The guitarist and singer has recorded or performed with artists ranging from the Who to Roger Waters to Eric Clapton to George Harrison and Joe Satriani.
But undoubtedly the biggest name on his lengthy resume is that of Jimi Hendrix. Fairweather Low had the honor of jamming with the guitarist twice, during which they swapped guitar and bass duties.
While the versatile guitarist says he played poorly the second time — he blames the hour: it was 3 a.m. — it proved good enough for Hendrix, who would later tap him up for a reprised version of a one of his hits.
The two jams took place on consecutive days in London during the 1960s while Fairweather Low played in his pop group, Amen Corner. Though they may mean nothing to Americans, Amen Corner — which included guitarist Neil Jones, bassist Clive Taylor and drummer Dennis Byron — enjoyed late-1960s hits in the U.K., including a cover of "Bend Me, Shape Me," a U.S. hit by the American Breed.
Amen Corner's gig would later act as a springboard for Fairweather Low's later career as a touring guitarist. But not before he rubbed shoulders with Hendrix.
“He'd been on Top of the Pops, so the word is out,” Fairweather Low tells Guitarist. “Amen Corner had a residency at the Speakeasy, and one night Jimi is there and wants to play. So he borrows Clive's bass, flips it upside down, and we do Otis Redding’s 'I Can’t Turn You Loose.'
“The next night, he wanted to play guitar, so he took Neil's guitar, flipped it upside down, I took the bass,” Fairweather Low says of their second musical bout. “So, it was Dennis, me and Hendrix.”
It’s a memory that will, naturally, live long in the Welshman’s memory — but not for his playing.
“I have to say,” he says, defending his honor, “it was three o'clock in the morning, and I wasn't very good! You gotta learn somewhere, though, eh?”
Still, Hendrix was impressed enough to seek out the guitarist when he decided to remake his 1966 hit “Stone Free” for U.S. audiences and bolster the track with guest musicians.
“It's 1969, I'm in New York, and I get a phone call. 'Jimi's in the studio. Would you come down and do some vocals?'” Fairweather Low recalls. “'He's recutting “Stone Free.”' Roger Chapman is also there, so we did it.”
(Chapman was a British vocalist with the progressive-rock group Family.)
The track had originally been released as the B-side to “Hey Joe,” but Hendrix was eager to revise the song, with Fairweather Low and Chapman on backing vocal.
Unfortunately, Reprise Records wasn’t convinced and put out the original version instead. Fairweather Low is inclined to agree with their decision.
“It's not a good version,” he sighs. “There's only one version of 'Stone Free.' ”
Thankfully for Hendrix fans, the track was released years later, along with extended live versions, which were often dragged out well past the 10-minute mark.
It wasn't the only time that Fairweather Low provided backing vocals for rock legends as he sung on the Who's 1978 LP Who Are You before handling rhythm guitar on Joe Satriani's sixth, self-titled album.
He also spent 22 years as a member of Roger Waters' band, and in 1991 became part of Beatles folklore when he joined George Harrison's band for a tour of Japan. He would have been honored to have played his part had he not discovered how many guitarists were offered the spot before him.
“We were having a meal in Japan, and George gets up and says, ‘Andy was not the first choice. There were seven guitarists, and he was the seventh choice.’” Fairweather Low relays. “Gary Moore was one, Alvin Lee was another, and eventually it came to me.”
Harrison and the guitarist had first crossed paths backstage at a Ry Cooder show. This somehow led Harrison to believe he had decent slide guitar chops. He didn’t.
“The first song we played when I went over was 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),' ” Fairweather Low explains. “I knew it inside out, but I said, ‘George, I’m the rhythm player, you play the slide. It doesn’t make any sense.’ Well, I learned the solo, but, believe me, there were so many nights I didn’t sleep!”
In related news, rare footage of Hendrix's dramatic final performance at the Open Air Love & Peace Festival in Germany in 1970 has surfaced online with the guitarist hitting back at a hostile audience, saying: “I don't give a fuck if you boo, as long as you boo in key, you mothers…”
And Billy Gibbons has recounted how he became friends with Hendrix and how touring with him in 1968 laid the foundations for ZZ Top.
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