Though both Neil Young and Jimi Hendrix are today considered leading figures of the 1960s counterculture, the two musicians were going through a tumultuous time artistically, despite their top billing at the Woodstock Rock Festival.
Young had been making waves as a solo performer, but in 1969 was looking to branch out into more collaborative efforts. His 1969 album "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere" is credited to "Neil Young & Crazy Horse," while by the time Woodstock rolled around he had officially joined Crosby, Stills, & Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Hendrix was similarly in flux. After two and a half years of touring with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience," and recording three classic albums in the process, Hendrix's band fractured following Redding abruptly quitting the group (via Ultimate Classic Rock). And amid the turmoil of trying to gel with new musicians, both Hendrix and Young found themselves hampered in their attempts to get to Woodstock, with news reports already chronicling the chaos as 800,000 people descended upon the festival site, according to Charles R. Cross' "Roomful of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix."
Hendrix and Young were stuck at a nearby airport, where bad weather meant they were unable to helicopter into Woodstock as intended. Instead, legendary roadie Gerry Stickells bagged a truck to get the two groups to the festival, though manager Elliot Roberts claims Young himself hotwired the truck, and Hendrix rode on the hood. Young later said: "Stealing a pickup truck with Jimi Hendrix is one of the high points of my life" (per Cross)
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