The 2001 Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour was an amazing success. Having covered more than 25,000 miles, participated in more than three-dozen events throughout the United States and Canada, and played host to an audience in excess of four million people, the tour proved to be a huge triumph. A first of its kind, the critically acclaimed Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour is the only traveling exhibition to focus solely on a single artist. "Red House is a unique opportunity for the Hendrix family," explains Jimi's cousin, Bob Hendrix. "When Al Hendrix clarified his rights to Jimi's legacy in 1995, he commissioned us to take Jimi's legacy out to the people. The Red House Tour gives the family the opportunity to reintroduce Jimi to people who already know him, and for those that don't, it gives them an opportunity to come inside to learn more about him, who he was, where he came from, and the people who were around him." The 2001 event also gave the Hendrix family to expand the reaches of this unprecedented event with two stops to our Canadian neighbors. "The response was tremendous," says Hendrix of the events in Toronto, ON and at the Ottawa Blues Festival. "The events were extremely well organized, and the people at the events really helped to make it worth while," says Hendrix. When the 2001 Red House Tour kicked off in March at the Daytona Beach Bike Week extravaganza, it was more than apparent that this expanded program would be a huge hit with everyone who stopped by. "The Red House Tour isn't so much about setting the record straight as it is simply to tell the story of Jimi Hendrix's life," says Hendrix. "His music is his greatest legacy-it transcends time and race. It's a type of music that people can get involved with, enjoy it, and learn something new about it every time they hear it." The summer tour schedule was also marked by numerous stops throughout the mid-west at some of that regions top arts and music festivals including the Wausau Blues Festival (Wausau, Wisconsin), Rockford Blues Festival (Rockford, Illinois), and the Milwaukee Summer Fest (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) among numerous others. As the end of Summer neared, Red House headed west making stops at the huge Sturgis Classic in Rapid City, South Dakota plus other western hot spots such as the Long Beach Blues Festival (Long Beach, California), and the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival (Telluride, Colorado). The critically acclaimed 2001 Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour featured a newly constructed, fully expandable, 53-foot show trailer, giving fans the perfect opportunity to experience the life, music and legacy of the world's greatest guitarist in a very controlled environment. Fans visiting the free exhibition were encouraged to follow a timeline of Jimi Hendrix's entire life with an emphasis on all of the major recordings he completed during his prolific career. The attractive visual displays include three rotating audio/visual presentations, one being a big screen 12-minute performance piece featuring a remastered Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound presentation of Hendrix's last major British concert appearance at the Isle Of Wight in August 1970. Before the 2001 touring season was complete, Red House made a number of late-Autumn visits to southern bell cities such as New Orleans, LA, Fort Worth, TX, and several stops in Florida. One of the highlights of the 2001 Tour was the joint production featuring the Red House Tour and a Jimi Hendrix Tribute Festival during the Labor Day long weekend at San Diego's illustrious Street Scene festival where more than 100,000 people took in the sites and sounds that capped off a tremendous summer program. (Be sure to check out the comprehensive online features commemorating the San Diego Street Scene at our sister site www.jimihendrix.com). { END }