This past season, the NFL devoted one week of its 2017 schedule to a campaign called “My Cause, My Cleats.” Among other events, the endeavor involved having hundreds of players take the
This past season, the NFL devoted one week of its 2017 schedule to a campaign called “My Cause, My Cleats.” Among other events, the endeavor involved having hundreds of players take the field for their games in specially designed, custom-made shoes that reflected a cause and organization close to their hearts. Which is how Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Joe Barksdale wound up walking onto the team’s home field at StubHub Center in Carson, California, in a pair of blue Nikes emblazoned with the visage of Jimi Hendrix, and covered with the sort of curlicue squiggles and hearts that adorned the hand-painted Stratocaster he famously played—and then lit on fire and smashed to bits—at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
“I love Fender guitars, so I chose the Fender Music Foundation as my charity,” says the 6’5”, 326-pound tackle. “And I decorated my cleats with the most famous Fender artist ever.”
The moment was an opportunity for Barksdale to reveal to football fans what are two of his great passions off the field. The 29-year-old Detroit native is an avowed guitar fanatic, and he spends much of his time away from football honing his craft at home, in hotel rooms, and at bars and clubs around the country. (He even performed “Foxy Lady” to his wife, Brionna, at their wedding reception.)
Now, Barksdale has released an album, Butterflies, Rainbows & Moonbeams (the title is yet another reference to his favorite artist), that highlights his accomplished rhythm and lead playing, as well as his singing, on a handful of original tunes and covers of songs by Freddie King (“The Stumble”), Elmore James (“Dust My Broom”), MGMT (“Electric Feel”), and, of course, Jimi Hendrix (“The Wind Cries Mary”). Barksdale’s own compositions run the gamut from blues, funk, and rock to R&B,