🎸 Jerry Reed

The first time Jerry Reed's name was on everyone's lips was in the 1970s. That was the year he ventured into pop and country records with "Amos Moses."

There were several TV appearances, several magazine articles, and it was discovered that not only was he the author of Elvis Presley's hits "Guitar Man" and "US Male", but he also played guitar on these tracks.

The following summer, "When you're hot, you're hot" was playing on all country and pop radio stations. Glen Campbell programmed Jerry in his TV show, and when Glen Campbell went on summer vacation, Jerry replaced him with the "Jerry Reed, When you're hot, you're hot Hour".

If anyone was hot that summer, it was Jerry Reed.

You can feel it through his ballads and in the years spent studying guitar. You don't become that good simply by wishing it. Jerry practiced a lot: up to sixteen and eighteen hours a day, for years.

Jerry was discovered by Bill Lowery, one of the promoters and agitators in the Atlanta music world. In 1954, Lowery, who worked at "Uncle Eb Brown," conducted a radio show on Georgia State RTech radio station WGST.

Another local singer told him about Jerry Reed, and Jerry came to sing a song of his composition called "Aunt Meg's Wooden Leg".

After he left the army, he wrote three singles for NCR Bill Lowery records, and Columbia Records in Nashville signed him in 1960. He had some ephemeral pop hits in 1962, "Good Night Irene" and "Hully Gully Guitar", but the time he hit the top was when Porter Wagner brought his song "Misery Loves Company" to the top of the country charts.

Nashville was becoming the place to be. Jerry could pitch his songs and the scene was opening up to him. One of his Atlanta buddies, Ray Stevens, was already working in many sessions there, and asked Jerry to come and give it a try.

In 1964, with a career as a session guitarist behind him, Jerry asked to leave Columbia to join his hero, Chet Atkins, then artistic director at RCA in Nashville.

Chet had already recorded one of Jerry's productions, "Scarecrow", in early 1962, and had explored together the mysteries of fingerstyle.

Slowly, the studio sessions ended. The last artist he worked for was Elvis Presley. At Elvis's insistence, Jerry was pulled from a fishing trip to play guitar on "Guitar Man". After that, Elvis "borrowed" "U.S. Male" from him.

Later, well after Jerry was a star in his own right, he returned to lend his guitar playing to two other Elvis tracks "A Thing Called Love" and "Talk About The Good Time".

For most of his fans, Jerry playing guitar was the cherry on the cake. They identified him as the good old smart guy, and that's why the producers of "W.W. And The Dixie Dance Kings" wanted him to come to Nashville to audition.

Jerry had refined his style and had no problem transposing it to the screen. He and Burt Reynolds created a kind of on-screen chemistry. That's why the producers renewed the tandem in "Gator".

Jerry is often asked where this ease of slipping into film came from. "I tend to believe that things happen because they have to happen", he told journalist Bob Allen, adding wisely: "you can be as good as the best part of yourself that you want to show".

In 1984, after twenty years with the same label, Jerry parted ways with RCA. He became more discreet in his last fifteen years but continued to travel the roads to participate in musical events that were close to his heart.

He always said he listened little to the radio, which is probably true. And if he glances at the news, he will be forgiven for thinking that one country singer today looks like another country singer.

🌟 Classic RCA Albums

• "Me and Jerry" (1970) - Grammy Award
• "When You're Hot You're Hot" (1971)
• "The Best Of Jerry Reed" (1992)

🎬 Soundtracks

• "W W And The Dixie Dancekings" (1975)
• "Gator" (1976)
• "Smokey And The Bandit" (1977)

🏆 Essential Hits

• "Guitar Man" - For Elvis
• "Amos Moses" - #1 country/pop
• "When You're Hot, You're Hot"
• "The Claw" - Instrumental masterpiece