Musician, actor Jerry Reed dies at 71

Sept. 2, 2008

[Boiling point]

Jerry Reed was one of the best guitar pickers around. Chet Atkins had an honor he bestowed upon guitar players that could play all styles fluently. It was that of “Certified Guitar Player” or CGP. Another unbelievable picker with that distinction is Tommy Emmanuel. Check him out. RIP Jerry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhR04kmcSXU

[valkyry1]

Yes he was really good as the bad guy in that movie with Burt Renolds

[Tribune7]

R.I.P.

[Boiling point]

Jerry did a movie in the early eighties with Robin Williams and Walter Mathau called Survivors. Because it is so politically incorrect, it is never aired, however you can rent it. It has lots of guns and survivalists in it. It’s pretty funny too.

[Dixie Yooper]

His part as Bama McCall in Gator was my favorite. Everything he and Burt Reynolds did after that was not as good.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Lord Mister Ford, what have you done?

[TPOOH]

Shedding a tear for an awesume performer. Here he is performing Croce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ts0qwRBx4c

[jazusamo]

Jerry Reed was a great entertainer, may he RIP.

[ChildOfThe60s]

"She Got The Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04RJyFCg7ks

RIP, cool guy.

[CIBvet]

One of my very favorite songs, in any style, of all time... Thing Called Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLMv58wWclo

Thanks Jerry for all the laughs, and a lifetime of musical inspiration... even if you disappeared into the bus and I didn't get to shake your hand, I got to jaw w/ Rufus (Buddy Green-Harp)

[vetvetdoug]

On a Thursday evening the Summer of 1998, I was honored to sit with Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins and watch them practice for the upcoming performance for a Saturday night at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. I was absolutely in awe and Chet and Tommy were very congenial...I didn’t even attempt to strum my guitar...there were only about a half dozen of us in the room but it was an event of a lifetime for me. Jerry was a regular at the downstairs bar in Franklin...I never got to play guitar with him but got to have several (ahem..) drinks with him. He was truly unique and fun to be around...

[rottndog]

RIP Jerry Reed!

My favorite:
East Bound And Down

[infowarrior]

Yes he was really good as the bad guy in that movie with Burt Renolds.

That would have been "Bama McCall" in the movie "Gator". He also did the theme song for that movie, as well. It started like this:

"Gator McCloskey,
Sittin' on a stump.
Guardin' his still,
With a 12 Gauge pump.".

Out of *all* the many tunes that Jerry did that I liked, and there were many, my most absolute favorite still has to be "Lord, Mr Ford!", a paean to anyone who has ever has the (dubiouis) pleasure own owning "one of those gas-guzzling, piston clanking, manufatured monstrosities from Deetroit City..."

the infowarrior

[Liberty Valance]

Rest in peace Jerry. One heck of a picker!

[Huck]

Great guitarist, love The Claw! RIP Jerry!

[Let's Roll]

“Named him after a man of the cloth ... Amos Moses”.

RIP indeed.

[Let's Roll]

I do too - but I loved it as an adult.

“Wonder where th loosiana sheriff went to - ha-ha”

[Stoat]

News CMA Close UP Jerry Reed Fighting Father Time With Music Great American Country

(edit)

While Reed enjoyed making movies — especially the ones with Burt Reynolds — he said he never felt properly appreciated or compensated for the work and star power he contributed. "Hollywood didn't know I’d sold millions of records. I did it for practically nothing – just to do it. Well I ain’t gonna do that no more ... I’m making a heck of a lot more money [in music] and have a lot more fun and a better life. And I can go fishing when I want to."

He had just been fishing, he said, the first and only time he met Elvis Presley. That was in 1967. Presley had come to Nashville to record, and one of the songs he was working on was "Guitar Man," which Reed had written and recorded. "I was out on the Cumberland River fishing," he said. "I got a call from Felton Jarvis (then Presley's producer). He said, `Elvis is down here. We've been trying to cut `Guitar Man’ all day long. He wants it to sound like it sounded on your album.'’ I finally told him, I said, `Well, if you want it to sound like that, you're going have to get Reed in there to play guitar, because these guys (you’re using in the studio) are straight pickers. [Reed] picks with his fingers and he tunes that guitar up all weird kind of ways.’" So Jarvis hired Reed to play on the session.

"I hit that intro," Reed said, "and boy, [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." There’s an outtake from that session that still circulates on Music Row in which you can hear the King and the Alabama Wild Man (one of Georgia-born Reed’s nicknames) joking with each other.

(edit)

Rest in peace

[Liberty Valance]

At the 15th Annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention - July 1999, Chet Atkins performed with, then presented to, Tommy Emmanuel the prestigious c.g.p (Certified Guitar Player) award. "In Recognition Of His Contributions To The Art Of Fingerpicking". This award has only been awarded to 3 other people - Jerry Reed, Arthur Knowles and Chet Atkins.

[tanuki]

Thanks for posting! YouTube is such a blessing. On a day like today, it’s a great way to remember someone like Jerry Reed.