Blues guitar journeyman Jimmy Thackery, who spent most of the 1970s and 80s on the road with the Nighthawks delivering night after sweat-pouring night of whiskey-soaked roadhouse blues, calls the time he first saw Jimi Hendrix live the "moment that changed my life."

Jimmy was a young man back then and Hendrix was just booted off the Monkees tour, playing a gig in DC.
Thackery, who has a new disc out with his band the Drivers (Solid Ice, Telarc), will play a tribute to Jimi Hendrix tonight (Friday, Aug. 10) on the beach in Somers Point. The free show follows last week's exceptional Guitar Shorty concert, which packed the municipal beach on Bay Avenue.

The 15th annual free Concerts on the Beach series is presented by sponsors such as AC Weekly, Shore Memorial Hospital, Cardinal Yachts and Commerce Bank. The concert begins at 7pm.

Here's a YouTube clip of some of Jimmy's tasty playing, caught at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival.