The Surprising Connection Between Steve Miller Band’s Biggest Album and Jimi Hendrix, Who Died Before It Was Ever Released

Steve Miller Band released eight albums before putting out Fly Like An Eagle, yet the album—and its artwork—remains one of the most synonymous with the rock band’s career. Hit songs like “Rock’n Me”, “Take The Money And Run”, and, of course, the title track have cemented this particular album in the rock music canon.

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And as such, most people will recognize the album artwork that features Miller playing a black Stratocaster, face twisted in concentration, hair flying. The photograph seems like the typical snapshot of a guitarist deep in the pocket. However, eagle-eyed fans (and guitarists) might notice that the guitar is technically upside-down.

The white pickguard, deep cutaway, and tone and volume knobs are all on the top of the guitar, which is the opposite of where those features would normally be. Miller was playing the guitar just like Jimi Hendrix would have. In fact, Hendrix bought that specific guitar first.

Steve Miller Band Used Jimi Hendrix’s Guitar for ‘Fly Like an Eagle’

In the early 1970s, Steve Miller was on the hunt for a new guitar. He wanted to try Jimi Hendrix’s trick, which was stringing a left-handed Stratocaster like a right-handed guitar. Doing so wouldn’t change how someone physically plays the guitar, but it would move the control knobs above the strings instead of below. “I’d watched Jimi play so many times and went, ‘Hmm…maybe there’s something to having your controls on top. Maybe it’s quicker to reach up there and have it, better than down and back up,’” he told Vintage Guitar in 2010.

“I’ve known Henry [Goldrich] since I was 20 years old,” Miller continued, “and bought lots of guitars from Manny’s [in New York City]. He had two guitars that Hendrix ordered but never picked up. He said, ‘You can have them.’ One was black. One was white. So, I took them, had them set up with the strings flipped, and recorded a lot with the white one, which I still have. It’s an amazing guitar with a rosewood fretboard. I may have recorded ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ with that guitar.”

Hendrix was never able to pick up his left-handed Strats because he died years earlier on September 18, 1970, from asphyxiation. Nevertheless, they lived on through Steve Miller Band’s iconic album artwork, which came out six years later.

In another sad turn of events, the guitar that’s featured on the cover, the black Stratocaster, was stolen and never recovered. The white Strat, the one potentially responsible for the smooth, slinky vibe of “Fly Like An Eagle”, is still in Miller’s possession.

Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images