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Country Singer Jerry Reed

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Shakesthecoffecan:
He was probably best know for his appearances in the Smokie and the Bandit series of movies.



Jerry Reed, 71; country singer appeared in 'Smokey and the Bandit' films

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Karen Tapia, Los Angeles Times
Jerry Reed performs in Santa Ana in 1993. The country singer-songwriter penned hits for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Brenda Lee and many others.
By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2008
Jerry Reed, whose roles in three "Smokey and the Bandit" Southern comedy films opposite Burt Reynolds often overshadowed his gifts as a prolific country singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist, died Monday at his home outside Nashville of complications from emphysema. He was 71.

"He was still recording right up until he couldn't any more," his booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, who is not related, said Tuesday. "He had been ill for some time."


Reed gained widespread fame as Reynolds' wisecracking foil starting with "W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings" in 1975, followed the next year by "Gator" and then, in 1977, the first of three "Smokey and the Bandit" movies in which he played Cledus "Snowman" Snow. In his last major film role, he played a harsh football coach in the 1998 Adam Sandler comedy "The Waterboy."

But before he made the jump to Hollywood he had established himself as one of the most sought-after guitarists in Nashville, a songwriter who wrote hits for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Brenda Lee and many others. He became a regular presence on the pop and country charts in the '70s and '80s with humorous hits including "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "Amos Moses," "East Bound and Down" and "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)."

"The general population might recognize him most as Snowman in the 'Smokey' films, but they should be aware of so many important contributions he made in music," Michael Gray, museum editor for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, said Tuesday.


Added current country star Brad Paisley: "I drew a lot of inspiration from him in various ways. His overall artistry and persona was so much fun and entertaining -- that is just one way I want to emulate him. Another is his total musicianship -- anyone who picks a country guitar knows of his mastery of the instrument -- one of the most inspirational stylists in the history of country music."

Reed, however, said that growing up he had admired comedians as much as musicians, and that he had long hoped to emulate them in his own career. "My favorite people on Earth are the Jack Bennys and Jackie Gleasons and Red Skeltons and Sid Caesars -- those guys that could just tear your head off," he said in 1999. "If you're laughing your guts out, how can you be depressed?"

Besides, he said, the movies kept his face and voice in circulation long after his 16-year string of 57 Top 100 country singles tailed off in 1983.

"To this day, kids follow me down the street talking about those movies. They see the reruns on Saturday afternoons," he said in 1999. "The pictures gave me an [image] that kept me out there long after the music industry wasn't interested any more."

Jerry Reed Hubbard was born March 20, 1937, in Atlanta, into a family of cotton farmers. He started playing guitar at a young age, and by the time he was a teenager he was performing with the likes of Ernest Tubb and Faron Young. He got his first record contract in 1955 -- he was 18 -- with Capitol Records.

His own records didn't click, but one of his songs, "Crazy Legs," was recorded by Capitol's big rockabilly star, Gene Vincent. Then Brenda Lee charted a Top 10 hit in 1960 with Reed's song "That's All You Gotta Do."

After a two-year stint in the Army, he moved to Nashville and switched to Columbia Records to further his music career.

Once in the country capital, his songs and guitar playing caught the ear of Chet Atkins, the esteemed guitarist who worked for RCA as a producer and talent scout. He signed Reed in 1965.

The first tangible result of that deal was "Guitar Man," which reached No. 53 on the country singles chart.

Because he was a label mate of Presley, Reed suggested that Presley record the tune.

Presley's version became a Top 50 hit and helped usher in Presley's late-'60s career revitalization that followed his round of fluffy Hollywood movies. Presley followed “Guitar Man” with another Reed song, "U.S. Male."

Reed landed the first Top 10 pop hit of his own in 1970 with “Amos Moses,” a country funk tune about a Cajun alligator hunter built around Reed's chicken-cluck electric guitar leads and cackling laugh. That year the Country Music Assn. named him instrumentalist of the year.

After "Amos Moses" came "When You're Hot, You're Hot," the 1971 hit for which Reed won the Grammy for male country vocal. He won two others for duets he recorded with Atkins.

The colorful narratives in his quasi-novelty hits set the stage for his TV and film persona, which emphasized his ability to turn homespun catch phrases and Southern wisdom.

duets he recorded with AtkinsEarlier this year he released "The Gallant Few," a collection of songs he wrote about wounded war veterans, an outgrowth of what he described as his mission in recent years to help ensure that they would not be forgotten.

Reed is survived by his wife, Priscilla; two daughters, Sedena and Lottie, and two grandchildren. There are no plans for a public memorial service, Moore-Reed said.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to the website for his latest release, thegallantfew.com. Proceeds go to Amvets.

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injest:
Tupelo Mississippi Flash

Im gonna tell you a story thats all about
This job I had one time as a talent scout, hmm.

I had a hard day at the office and the boss wasnt in town
The day this hairy legged guitar picker just happened to come around.

Well, he walks in my office with a great big grin,
And folks thats where my story really begins.

He said, Son my name is Boregard Rippy.
I come to you from Tupelo Mississippi.
I write songs thatll sing like a bird,
I play licks on my guitar like you aint never heard.

But Im down on my luck and things are just a little slack.
I gotta quarter in my pocket and a shirt on my back.
But you buy me some supper and give me a place I can sleep
He said Ill sing you some songs thatll rock your head to sleep.
I got talent boy. Said back home they call me the Tupelo Mississippi Flash

Well I knew I was in a room with some kind of a nut
When he pulled out that pack of used cigarette butts.
So thats when I told him We cant use you today
So I handed the boy a dollar and sent him on his way

Well the boss got back and we both had a laugh
When I told him bout the Tupelo Mississippi Flash
And pretty soon I had the story circling around
About this Mississippi nut that we had in our town.

I said, watch him everybody, the boys squirrelly!
He walks around calling himself the Tupelo Mississippi Flash

Well it happened one day while I was driving to my home
I just happened to have my car radio on.
When I heard the jockey raving about a brand new smash
By a kid called the Tupelo Mississippi Flash

I almost wrecked my automobile
I went through a red light
I hit the traffic cop....What??

Well my storys got an ending and its short and sweet
The boss man he fired me and left me out in the street
But I got a new job now and Im as learnin real fast
Im drivin the bus for the Tupelo Mississippi Flash

And his Cadillac Im driving that for him too
And that yacht hes got.
And his plane??
Well chauffeur, chauffeur I hear him say
Tupelo Mississippi, who ever heard of it...........

injest:
Lord Mr Ford

Well, if you're one of the millions who own one of them gas-drinking, piston-clinking, air-polluting, smoke-belching, four-wheeled buggies from Detroit City, then pay attention. I'm about to sing your song son.

Well, I'm not a man appointed judge
To bear ill-will and hold a grudge
But I think it's time I said me a few choice words
All about that demon automobile
A metal box with the polyglass wheel
The end result to a dream of Henry Ford
Well I've got a car that's mine alone
That me and the finance company own
A ready-made pile of manufactured grief
And if I ain't out of gas in the pouring rain
I'm a-changin' a flat in a hurricane
I once spent three days lost on a cloverleaf
Well it ain't just the smoke and the traffic jam
That makes me the bitter fool I am
But this four-wheel buggy is
A-dollaring me to death
For gas and oils and fluids and grease
And wires and tires and anti freeze
And them accessories
Well honey, that's something else
Well you can get a stereo tape and a color TV
Get a back-seat bar and reclining seats
And just pay once a month, like you do your rent
Well I figured it up and over a period of time
This four thousand dollar car of mine
Costs fourteen thousand dollars
And ninety-nine cents, well now

{Chorus}:
Lord Mr. Ford, I just wish that you could see
What your simple horseless carriage has become
Well it seems your contribution to man
To say the least, got a little out of hand
Well Lord Mr. Ford what have you done

Now the average American father and mother
Own one whole car and half another
And I bet that half a car is a
Trick to buy, don't you
But the thing that amazes me, I guess
Is the way we measure a man's success
By the kind of automobile he can afford to buy
Well now, red light, green light, traffic cop
Right turn, no turn, must turn, stop
Get out the credit card honey, we're out of gas
Well now, all the cars placed end to end
Would reach to the moon and back again
And there'd probably be some
Fool pull out to pass
Well now, how I yearn for the good old days
Without that carbon monoxide haze
A-hanging over the roar of the interstate
Well if the Lord that made the moon and stars
Would have meant for me and you to have cars
He'd have seen that we was all born
With a parking space

{Chorus}

Come away with me Lucille
In my smoking, choking automobile

Shakesthecoffecan:
She got the gold mine and I got the shaft, listen to the lyrics, especially the first few lines.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04RJyFCg7ks[/youtube]

injest:

--- Quote from: shakestheground on September 03, 2008, 08:23:25 pm ---She got the gold mine and I got the shaft, listen to the lyrics, especially the first few lines.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04RJyFCg7ks[/youtube]

--- End quote ---

That is one of my favorite things about him....he could twist those words around!

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