Randy Hansen, the premiere Jimi Hendrix tribute, emulates such signatures of Hendrix's style as playing a guitar with his teeth or behind his back. His music appeared in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, and his debut album was released in 1980 on Capitol Records. He has toured and played with literally hundreds of famous musicians and groups.
Hansen's Hendrix act first came to prominence with Randy Hansen's Machine Gun (1977–80), with Larry Epperly on bass guitar and Tim Kelliher on drums (Kelliher later did sessions for guitarist Daniel Jones in his band 7th Order, whose session personnel also included British guitarist Martin Pugh and veteran American rock guitarist Geoff Thorpe). All three had previously been in a band called Kid Chrysler and the Cruisers. Hansen's Machine Gun performed on bills with Heart, The Kinks, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and others, and were written up by Rolling Stone and Guitar Player. There are now videos out with Buddy Miles covering Hendrix tunes such as "All Along the Watchtower", with incredible playing by Hansen from 1997.