Jerry Reed 2006 Interview About Elvis & Guitar Man

Above Jerry talks about Elvis & Guitar Man.



Part one with Jerry Reed.

Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, and lovingly as the Snowman, was an American country music singer, country guitarist, session musician, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. As a singer, he was known for "(Who Was the Man Who Put) The Line in Gasoline"; "Lord, Mr. Ford (What Have You Done)"; "Amos Moses"; "When You're Hot, You're Hot," for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1972; and "East Bound and Down," the theme song for the film Smokey and the Bandit, in which he also co-starred.


In 1967, Reed notched his first official country chart hit with "Guitar Man," which Elvis Presley soon covered. Presley had come to Nashville to record in 1967, and one of the songs he was working on was "Guitar Man" (which Reed had written and recorded earlier). "I was out on the Cumberland River fishing, and 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, 'Well, if you want it to sound like that, you're going have to get me in there to play guitar, because these guys (you're using in the studio) are straight pickers. I pick with my fingers and tune that guitar up all weird kind of ways.'"

Jarvis hired Reed to play on the session. "I hit that intro, and [Elvis'] 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.[2] In January 1968 Reed worked on a second Presley session, during which he played guitar on a cover of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business", 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).[3] After Presley recorded "U.S. Male," the songwriter recorded an Elvis tribute, "Tupelo Mississippi Flash," which proved to be his first Top 20 hit.

Elvis also recorded two other Reed compositions: "A Thing Called Love" in 1970 and "Talk About The Good Times" in 1973 for a total of four.

Johnny Cash would also release "A Thing Called Love" as a single in 1971, which would reach #2 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart for North America. It would become the title track for a studio album that he released the following spring.

Reed died in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 1, 2008, of complications from emphysema.