Billy Cox, who played bass in some of the late Jimi Hendrix’s backing groups, will be taking part in a special free Q&A session in Chicago on Thursday, November 6. The event marks the launch of a series of Chicago-area fundraisers for the Maui, Hawaii-based Hua Momona Foundation.
Videos by American Songwriter
Cox will chat with Chicago musician Nicholas Tremulis at the event, dubbed “Songs and Stories.” It will be held at the Kimball Arts Center in the Windy City. After the Q&A, three young musicians associated with the local Collaboraction youth-music program will perform original songs. Cox and Tremulis will then share some feedback with them.
Billy and his wife, Brenda, recently chatted with American Songwriter about the event, which is being hosted by the Hua Momona Foundation and the Maui Music & Food Experience. The latter is a multi-faceted benefit series featuring musical performances and Hawaiian cuisine launched to raise money for victims of the 2023 wildfires that ravaged part of Maui. A Chicago edition Maui Music & Food Experience will be held on Friday, November 7, at Copernicus Center.
Cox told American Songwriter that after the interview segment, he may take part in a rare public performance.
“It just all depends on how I’m feeling that particular time,” the 84-year-old musician noted. “[I]f I’m feeling fair, I might pick up a bass and maybe walk out … one or two songs.”
Cox Also Is Looking Forward to Meeting the Young Musicians
Brenda Cox explained that she and Billy are most excited about meeting the young musicians and students at the event.
“Bill will have a chance to talk with them and listen to some of them, and he’ll have a chance to answer their questions,” she noted. “I’m sure they want to know about Bill, and he’ll have the floor. … And … we’d like to know a little bit about them as well.”
The event will mark the launch of the Maui Youth Music Program. The initiative, which is being funded by the Hua Momona Foundation, will support and encourage young musicians on the Hawaiian island. Cox, Tremulis, and longtime Rolling Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones and backing singer Bernard Fowler are part of the program’s inaugural advisory board.
More About the Chicago Edition of the Maui Music & Food Experience
The Chicago edition of the Maui Music & Food Experience will be held at Gateway Theater at the Copernicus Center. Cox is expected to attend the event. Among the confirmed performers are Tremulis, Fowler, Bettye LaVette, and former Rolling Stones backing singer Lisa Fischer.
The event will benefit Hua Momona Foundation. The charity seeks to spread Hawaii’s aloha spirit while providing food and mental-health programs for those in need, helping the Lahaina area rebuild following the 2023 wildfires there, and cultivating the new youth-music program. The Hua Momona Foundation was founded by Lahaina-based microgreens supplier Hua Momona Farms.
Tickets for the Maui Music & Food Experience in Chicago are on sale now at OneCause.com. Previous Maui Music & Food Experience events were held on Maui in September 2024 and August 2025. Cox performed at the 2024 gathering, his last public performance to date.
About the Hua Momona Foundation’s November 8 Fundraising Gala
The final event in the series of Chicago-area fundraisers for the Hua Momona Foundation is a gala scheduled for Saturday, November 8, at the San Filippo Estate in the Chicago suburb of Barrington, Illinois.
Cox also is expected to attend this event, which will feature a four-course gourmet meal and a silent auction.
The auction will include the previously reported painting “Maui Moon,” which was created by Cox. It was inspired by an evening Billy spent with Hendrix while they were on Maui for the famous free concerts the Jimi Hendrix Experience played there on July 30, 1970. The shows were filmed for documentary Rainbow Bridge, which was released in 1971.
One night, while he and Hendrix were hanging out on the porch of their rental home, Billy noticed the beautiful moonlit landscape and mentioned to Jimi that he’d like to capture it with a painting. Hendrix’s responded, “Yeah, you should go ahead and do that. I’d like to see how it looks.”
Cox began the painting, using oil paints, but not long after, he discovered that the piece was ruined while on a flight to the neighboring island of Oahu.
“I was crushed,” Billy recalled. “Jimi tried to cheer me up and said, ‘Just do another one—you’ll be inspired again.’” Sadly, Hendrix died several weeks later, before Cox made another painting.
Finally, in 2020, Cox completed the “Maui Moon” painting, as a tribute to Hendrix, the beautiful Hawaiian island, and the creative spark he shared with the legendary guitarist.
More Details About the Silent Auction
People bid online now for the “Maui Moon” painting and other items and experiences at OneCause.com. The starting bid for the painting is $5,000.
Bidding will close on November 8 with the live auction held during the Hua Momona Foundation’s gala. The auction will take place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. CT. Remote bidding also will be available.
Other items up for bid include an electric guitar and a ukulele signed by Cox and musicians who performed at the August 2025 Maui Music & Food Experience. Among the latter are Fowler, Tremulis, and Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers.
(Photo by Michael Weintrob)
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