Jerry Reed

Reed was born in Atlanta and was the second child of Robert and Cynthia Hubbard. Reed's grandparents lived in Rockmart and he visited them from time to time. As a small child running around strumming his guitar, he is quoted as saying, "I am gonna be a star. I'm gonna go to Nashville and be a star." Reed's parents separated four months after his birth. He and his sister spent seven years in foster homes or orphanages growing up. Reed was reunited with his mother and stepfather in 1944. Reed graduated from O'Keefe High School, an Atlanta city school. The O'Keefe building still exists today; it was sold to Georgia Tech and is now part of the university's campus. By high school, Reed was already writing and singing music, having learned to play the guitar as a child. At age 18, he was signed by publisher and record producer Bill Lowery to cut his first record, "If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise". At Capitol Records, Reed was promoted as a new "teenage sensation" after recording his own rockabilly composition, "When I Found You", in 1956. He recorded both country and rockabilly singles and found success as a songwriter when labelmate Gene Vincent covered his song "Crazy Legs" in 1958. By 1958, Bill Lowery signed Reed to his company, National Recording Corporation. He recorded for NRC as both an artist and as a member of the staff band, which included Joe South and Ray Stevens, other NRC artists. Reed married Priscilla "Prissy" Mitchell in 1959. They had two daughters, Seidina Ann Hubbard, born April 2, 1960, and Charlotte Elaine (Lottie) Zavala, born October 19, 1970. Mitchell was a member of folk group the Appalachians ("Bony Moronie", 1963), and with Roy Drusky was co-credited on the 1965 country number-one hit "Yes, Mr. Peters". ==Career==

In 1959, Reed hit the Billboard "Bubbling Under the Top 100", also known as the Roar, and the Cashbox country chart with the single "Soldier's Joy". After serving two years in the U.S. Army, Reed moved to Nashville in 1961 to continue his songwriting career, which had continued to gather steam while he was in the Army, thanks to Brenda Lee's 1960 cover of his song "That's All You Got to Do". Jarvis hired Reed to play on the session. "I hit that intro, and [Elvis's] face lit up and here we went. Then after he got through that, he cut [my] "U.S. Male" at the same session. I was toppin' cotton, son." Reed also played the guitar for Elvis Presley's "Big Boss Man" (1967), recorded in the same session. On January 15 and 16, 1968, Reed worked on a second Presley session, during which he played guitar on a cover of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business", "Stay Away", and "Goin' Home" (two songs revolving around Presley's film Stay Away, Joe), as well as another Reed composition, "U.S. Male" (Reed's quoted recollection of "U.S. Male" being recorded at the same session as "Guitar Man" being incorrect). Presley also recorded two other Reed compositions: "A Thing Called Love" in May 1971 for his He Touched Me album, and "Talk About The Good Times" in December 1973, for a total of four. Johnny Cash also released "A Thing Called Love" as a single in 1971. The album features songs such as Reed's version of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" and John D. Loudermilk's free-wheeling song "Big Daddy (Alabama Bound)". A second collaboration with Atkins, Me & Chet, followed in 1972, as did a series of top-40 singles, which alternated between frenetic, straightforward country offerings and more pop-flavored, countrypolitan material. A year later, he scored his second number-one single with "Lord, Mr. Ford" (written by Deena Kaye Rose), from the album of the same name. He went on to co-star in all three of the Smokey and the Bandit films. Also in 1977, Reed joined entrepreneur Larry Schmittou and other country music stars, including Conway Twitty, Cal Smith, Larry Gatlin, and Richard Sterban, as investors in the Nashville Sounds, a minor league baseball team of the Double-A Southern League that began play in 1978. Reed appeared in 1978's ''High-Ballin''' and 1979's Hot Stuff and made two guest appearances on the sitcom Alice in 1978 and 1981. Reed also hosted a TV variety show, filming two episodes of The Jerry Reed Show in 1976. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band released a version of "Amos Moses" in 1976. In 1979, he released a record comprising both vocal and instrumental selections titled, appropriately enough, Half & Half. It was followed one year later by Jerry Reed Sings Jim Croce, a tribute to the late singer/songwriter. He also starred in a TV movie in that year entitled Concrete Cowboys. 1980s and 1990s In January 1980, Reed began work on the "Guitar Man" re-recording being produced by Presley's producer Felton Jarvis. With a new "hopped up" guitar line and Presley on lead vocals, the song reached number one on the country chart. In 1982, Reed's career as a singles artist was revitalized by the chart-topping hit "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)", The special, a "music-filled celebrity picnic", was filmed at the Hermitage Landing. It included guest stars Burt Reynolds, Louise Mandrell, Brenda Lee, Jimmy Dean, Glen Campbell, Vicki Lawrence, Faron Young, and the Statler Brothers. Reed and Campbell performed the hit "Southern Nights", with Campbell relating how the song's guitar lick had been shown to him by Reed some years before. His last chart hit, "I'm a Slave", appeared in 1983. In the same year, he co-starred with Robin Williams and Walter Matthau in the Michael Ritchie comedy The Survivors. Reed guest-starred in the October 13, 1983, episode of ''Mama's Family'', "The Return of Leonard Oates" (episode 13, season two), as Naomi Harper's ex-husband. He accepted an invitation to open for the British group Dexys Midnight Runners in the US in 1984, yet left the tour early to appear on the country music comedy TV show Hee-Haw. After an unsuccessful 1986 LP, ''Lookin' at You, Reed focused on touring until 1992, when Atkins and he reunited for the album Sneakin' Around'', before he again returned to the road. In the meantime, Reed appeared in several interviews and commercial spots for Mid-South Wrestling. Reed had a role as a commander/Huey pilot for Danny Glover's character in the 1988 movie Bat*21 starring Gene Hackman. He also acted as executive producer on this film. Reed starred in the 1998 Adam Sandler film The Waterboy as Red Beaulieu, the movie's chief antagonist and the head coach for the University of Louisiana Cougars football team. Actor Henry Winkler recounts that Reed taught him how to bass fish while on location for this movie. It was Reed's final film role before his death in 2008. He teamed up with country superstars Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, and Bobby Bare in the group Old Dogs. They recorded one album in 1998, entitled Old Dogs, with songs written by Shel Silverstein. Reed sang lead on "Young Man's Job" and "Elvis Has Left the Building", the latter possibly in deference to Elvis helping launch his career. In 1998, American rock band Primus covered the Reed song "Amos Moses" on the EP titled Rhinoplasty. 2000s In October 2004, "Amos Moses" was featured on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack, which played on the fictional radio station K-Rose. In 2007, the British band Alabama 3 (known as A3 in the U.S.) covered his hit "Amos Moses" on their album, M.O.R. In June 2005, American guitarist Eric Johnson released his album Bloom, which contained a track titled "Tribute to Jerry Reed" in commemoration of his works. "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)" was used in the 2010 film, The Bounty Hunter. It plays during the scene where Milo (Gerard Butler) searches Nicole's (Jennifer Aniston) apartment. "You Took All the Ramblin' Out of Me" was used in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V, on the radio station Rebel Radio. "Talk About the Good Times" was used as the opening theme for the 2022 streaming TV series Sprung in all but the first episode. The entire song closed the final episode. ==Personal life and death==

Reed married country singer Priscilla Mitchell on July 9, 1959; they had two daughters (Seidina Ann Hubbard, born April 2, 1960, and Charlotte Elaine "Lottie" Zavala, born October 19, 1970), who also became country singers. Reed died in Nashville on September 1, 2008, of complications from emphysema, at the age of 71. In a tribute in Vintage Guitar, Rich Kienzle wrote, "Reed set a standard that inspires fingerstyle players the way Merle and Chet inspired him." He was survived by Mitchell and their two daughters. Mitchell died following a short illness on September 24, 2014, at the age of 73. ==Style and influences==

CMT called Jerry Reed "a genuine original who helped take country music and the country lifestyle to a larger mainstream audience." Reed's "influence on American guitar playing is held by some to be comparable to that of Django Reinhardt, and several of his songs have become country rock standards", according to The Guardian. Rock Guitar For Dummies described Reed as one of the great rockabilly musicians. Reed's syncopated guitar playing style was influenced by Merle Travis and Earl Scruggs; this style was nicknamed the "claw", due to the appearance of Reed's hand as he played. Reed's guitar playing also showed the influence of the blues. Reed was also influenced by comedians, saying that he admired them as much as musicians. Reed's vocal performances on some of his singles were also described as a prototype to rap vocals. Rapper Cowboy Troy said that Charlie Daniels and Jerry Reed's vocal delivery "was called recitations at that time, but if you listened to it now, you'd probably call it a rap". Brad Paisley said that he was influenced by Reed's "overall artistry and persona", as well as "his total musicianship [...] anyone who picks a country guitar knows of his mastery of the instrument [...] [Reed was] one of the most inspirational stylists in the history of country music.” ==Accolades==

Country Music Association • 1970 CMA Instrumentalist of the Year • 1971 CMA Instrumentalist of the Year Grammy Awards • 1971 Best Country Instrumental Performance - with Chet Atkins for Me & Jerry • 1972 Best Country Vocal Performance, Male - "When You're Hot, You're Hot" • 1993 Best Country Instrumental Performance - with Chet Atkins for ''Sneakin' Around'' ==Discography==