Before the Wind Cried Mary

E. Mark Windle 21 October 2025.

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

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 Cox managed to find themselves discharged from service.

In the search for work they drifted to Nashville, and took up an apartment above a Jefferson Street beauty store. These days, save some small pockets of redevelopment, the area surrounding Jefferson Street has been bulldozed, cleared or left derelict. Fifty or sixty years ago though it was a different story—Jefferson Street was a vibrant entertainment area for the Black community lined with bars, diners and nightclubs; and was a focal point for local and visiting blues and R&B performers.

CLUB RESIDENCY

The Del Morocco on 2417 Jefferson St. was a plush dinner club venue with a two hundred patron capacity, owned by Theodore “Uncle Teddy” Acklen. The newly formed King Kasuals (now with additional musicians) had secured a one-year residency. Most weeks they would play the Del Morocco, then gig through the rest of the week on the chitlin’ circuit within a few hundred miles radius of Nashville.

By 1963, Cox changed the name of the band temporarily to Billy Cox and the Sandpipers, influenced by the name of a local night club. Record rep Hoss Allen had just left his post at Chess and had returned to Nashville to get more involved in production and promotion. He invited Cox along to cover some session work at the Starday-King studios for some local acts he potentially wanted to record. Cox brought Hendrix along with him. From then on, the pair were to appear on a number of recordings including Frank Howard and the Commanders’ soulful “I’m So Glad” (also written by Cox). Frank informed me once that Hoss had to instruct the sound engineers to turn the over-enthusiastic Jimi way down in the mix…

Johnny Jones was next to join The Kasuals, and was nominated band leader. Tennessee-born Jones had moved to Memphis and Chicago as a youngster, where he learned his craft as a blues guitarist under the supervision of Junior Wells and Freddie King. By 1961 Jones had settled in Nashville and was already working as a session musician. As a performer, he was a member of The Imperial Seven (a.k.a. The Imperials), coincidentally another band who were resident at another Teddy Acklen club on Jefferson Street. This was where Johnny would first meet with Hendrix.

NASHVILLE TV AND THE WANDERING YEARS OF HENDRIX

After further personnel changes within The Imperials and The King Kasuals, Jones, Hendrix and Cox came together as a performing group in their own right; supporting visiting acts in the area on the chitlin’ circuit and undertaking session work. During this time, local vocalist Jimmy Church had caught their attention. Church was a confident singer and performer on stage, with a fair degree of recording experience behind him already. As The King Kasuals’ local reputation grew, they were approached to be the resident outfit on R&B TV shows Night Train and The !!!! Beat, with Jimmy Church taking a hand in everything from solo performances and providing vocal backing to other artists, to playing percussion.

For Hendrix, 1964 to 1966 was a prolific, if wandering, period. Look in any book at the discography of Hendrix and you’ll see he was all over the east coast, moving from band to band while still intermittently playing with The King Kasuals. Church reports that this was largely due to his association with the flamboyant MC and singer Gorgeous George, who encouraged Hendrix to follow him on his chitlin’ circuit rounds. In a remarkably short period of time, Hendrix was given the opportunity to back a plethora of acts including The Isley Brothers, Don Covey, The Tams, Little Richard and Curtis Knight and the Squires. It was through these musical diversions Hendrix would finally meet Animals’ bass guitarist Chas Chandler and his manager during a gig at Greenwich Village, New York— a connection which ultimately lured him to the UK.

JOHN RICHBOURG AND SOUND STAGE 7 RECORDS

Around the time of the departure of Hendrix, the group name changed again to Johnny Jones and the King Casuals. With Jones as band leader and Jimmy Church as lead singer, live performances were recommenced. White Detroit keyboardist and arranger Bob Wilson even joined forces with Cox and Jones at one point to provide session work on recordings by artists on Nashville’s (mostly R&B) Sound Stage 7 label, operated by WLAC DJ, John Richbourg.

Jimmy Church’s first direct connection with John Richbourg would come in 1965–66 when they produced some worthy if unreleased material, including “Soul Shack”, “Faith In Me” and others, which would not surface until the 2007 CD The Rich Records Story. Richbourg carried the Rich artist contracts over to Sound Stage 7, which saw a re-release of “Right On Time” a year later, and the ballad double-sider “Twinkle” / “You’ve Got Me (In The Palm Of Your Hand)”.

THE WILLIAM BELL / PEACHTREE RECORDS CONNECTION

In 1968, The King Casuals came to the attention of William Bell’s manager Henry Wynn, who headed the Supersonic Attractions booking agency out of Atlanta. The agency had been contracted to supply the band and support artists for an upcoming tour headed by Jackie Wilson, The Impressions and Barbara Mason. Most of the support acts were not held within a recording contract at that time, so Bell and Wynn formed the Peachtree label as platform for these artists. Wynn also wanted Johnny Jones and his band to back other major artists. Church asked John Richbourg if he could be released from the Sound Stage 7 contract in order to join the band on the tour. Richbourg, riding high with the commercial success of Joe Simon, anotehr SS7 artist, gave him his blessing. Sadly the tour would involve tragedy when Johnny Jones’ horn section and The Impressions’ rhythm section were killed in an automobile accident while travelling the Carolinas.

At the time of the Peachtree signing, Wynn divided Jimmy and the rest of the band into two separate acts, both recording for the label at the same time. Jimmy Church’s frantic soul dancer “Thinking About The Good Times” and the ballad flip “Shadow Of Another Man’s Love” was the initial 45 release for the label, both produced by William Bell. Despite writing both tracks for the label, Jimmy reports he didn’t receive a cent.

In name at least, The King Casuals had one 45 release on the label: “Soul Poppin’ “ / “Blues For The Brothers”. Johnny Jones would also appear uncredited on “Mighty Low — Parts 1 and 2” and “Do Unto Others” / “Hong Kong Harlem”. “Purple Haze” was initially earmarked for a Peachtree release, but Bell and Wynn sought an opportunity for better national distribution. The song caught the attention of major label Brunswick. The group’s own funk rendition of Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” with Johnny Jones on lead vocal went on to become a brief favourite on the UK northern soul scene.

LATER YEARS

The later Jimi Hendrix story of course took a different direction, and that of course is now well documented. Hendrix died aged 27. Johnny Jones continued to perform until his own demise in 2009. Billy Cox continued to play as bassist by Jimi’s side after his meteoric rise to fame at Woodstock, then became the owner of a blues and gospel themed video production company. Cox also co-authored and contributed to a number of biographies on Jimi Hendrix, was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Church formed his own revue act in the early 1970s. Managed by South Eastern Attractions out of Birmingham, AL, they proved to be a popular booking on the southern college music scene. Today, Jimmy Church remains active in many ways. To the older African-American community he is regarded as a guardian of local R&B history. As organiser for the Tennessee Rhythm and Blues Society, Church co-ordinates regular events at Carole-Ann’s Café on Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville where artists from previous decades are invited to perform on stage; an acknowledgement of their contribution to the Nashville music scene. The Jimmy Church Band are a popular high profile event act, having performed in the presence of members of the British Royal family in Memphis and in England in recent years, and at inaugural balls for numerous US Governors.

Given the extent of his meteoric rise to fame after he landed on UK shores, perhaps it’s not entirely surprising that the early chapters of Jimi Hendrix’s life are less well recorded. But his Nashville period was milestone stuff, with a wealth of musical talent that surrounded him quietly informing his creative genius. Thanks to the likes of Hendrix, Cox, Jones, and Jimmy Church, we have a rich, alternative history to Music City’s past.

(Modified excerpt from the book House of Broken Hearts: The Soul of 1960s Nashville)

(Copyright 2025) E. Mark Windle is a UK-based freelance writer who works with domestic and international clients. He has also worked as a senior writer for Story Terrace (London, UK), and as a ghostwriter for Sheridan Hill / Real Life Stories LLC (North Carolina, USA).