'Red House' is a Blues song, written and first performed by famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The original (mono only) version appeared on his debut album Are You Experienced, released throughout most of the world (except USA & Canada). On this version, Noel Redding plays electric guitar tuned to resemble a bass guitar. Despite Hendrix's complaints, the song was omitted from the USA compilation release of the album because the recording company reportedly argued that "America does not like blues".
This mono cut only became available in the USA & Canada when it was released (minus the chat at the end) on the posthumous Blues album. A different stereo take of 3 minutes and 49 seconds, recorded about the same time as this, was featured on the 1969 US Smash Hits compilation album. This version was unavailable outside of USA & Canada until the Kiss The Sky CD compilation. The Blues album also features a live studio jam version - onto which Hendrix's introduction from a different jam has been dubbed - "Electric Church Red House". This was recorded by The Experience featuring Lee Michaels playing Hammond organ. Most Hendrix concerts featured this song, which is included in Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight.
While playing the song at Woodstock, Hendrix snapped his high E-string in the middle of the performance and kept playing the second half of the song with just five strings. "Long" versions of the song like the Woodstock rendition are generally about 6-10 minutes. One of the longest recorded versions of the song is his nearly thirteen-minute long version at the San Diego Sports Arena, which is found on Hendrix in the West, a live album sampling four different shows.
The song has been covered by a few other blues musicians. On the album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy covers this song. Albert King covers it on an album named for the song. Also, John Lee Hooker has played the song and it appeared on the Dirty Bones Band live CD Stronger Than Dirt featuring a 19 year-old Tom Guerra on lead guitar. Grammy Award-winning rock band Toto covered this song on a live album. It continues to be played live to this day.
