Post by LS on Jul 2, 2006 22:09:24 GMT -5
Jerry Reed Living The Good Life:
Pickin’, Grinnin’ and Fishin’ In The Dark
Mention the name “Jerry Reed” and the reaction usually elicits a big smile. With a career that now spans 50 years, it’s not only the talent of this gifted and multi-faceted performer, but also his amiable and irrepressible, charismatic personality that has won him over legions of fans. He knew since childhood that performing was his calling, and his first break came at age 17, when as a high school junior, his was signed to a record contract with Capitol Records. Since that time, he’s written hundreds of songs that have been recorded by performers that include Gene Vincent, Brenda Lee, Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. In addition to his songwriting talent, hooked on the guitar since the age of 7, Jerry became an accomplished guitarist, creating a unique and immediately identifiable style all his own, and went on to become a highly respected and sought after session man. His own recording career took off when he broke though with the swampy, raucous smash crossover hit, “Amos Moses.” That same year he landed a spot as a regular on Glen Campbell’s Goodtime Hour TV show. His stint on the Goodtime Hour in turn led to a successful string of movie roles, his first being W.W. And The Dixie Dance Kings. He continued to record throughout the 70’s, although it took somewhat of a backseat during that period to his movie career. Jerry re-emerged on the charts again in the early 80s with another string of hits that include “She Got The Goldmine (I Got The Shaft)” and “The Bird.” He last charted in ’83 and since then, has primarily concentrated his efforts on touring. He collaborated with Chet Atkins in ’92 on an album called Sneakin’ Around, and again in ’98 when he teamed up with Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis and Shel Silverstein for Old Dogs. In recent years he’s kept a low profile in Nashville, Jerry says, “Because that's the way I like it. People get tired of you real easy. If they don't see you, they don't know what's going on. I'm not a social butterfly. I'm kind of a homebody.”
Although lately he jokingly laments about the effects of getting old and slowing down, don’t let him kid you. He can still put the pedal to the metal and give most people half his age a run for their money. At age 68, he’s as irrepressible as ever. Without missing a single beat, he’s quick with a story or a quip, generous with his humor and erupts in contagious laughter frequently. I knew I was about to have my hands full right after he greeted me with an enthusiastic “good morning!” and I mentioned it was already afternoon where I was. He inquired as to my location, and when I revealed I was in New York, he let out a whoop and in his Georgia drawl said, “Come on, talk to me girl- man, I just love listening to that New York accent!” He then immediately launched into a couple of hilarious stories about his first visit to New York, how when he’d ordered breakfast that much to his horror, instead of getting the expected grits, he wound up with something “ya’ll call ‘hash-brown potatoes!’” and related a few instances of ‘communication’ problems he ran into on subsequent visits. Caught off guard by this fast and furious comic barrage that had me laughing so hard and thoroughly enjoying listening to his stories- he slammed on the brakes and asked deadpan, “Was there anything you wanted to ask me?” before breaking into his trademark mischievous laugh.
On April 19th, Jerry Reed released his first-ever live album, titled Jerry Reed ‘Live!’…STILL!, as well as a newly launched website, www.r2krecords.com . The album contains live versions of 8 of Jerry’s biggest hits along with 2 new songs. As we chatted about the new album, he was energized, eager to talk about his return to recording, and maybe a little surprised that after all these years, people are still very much interested in Jerry Reed.
TCB: It would seem that of all the performers who come to mind, Jerry Reed would be an absolute natural to do a live album. So I have to ask, why has it taken you so long to finally do one?
Jerry: What are you talking about? It hasn’t taken long at all. [Laughter] I’d written the 2 new songs for an album- I’m working on two of them. I did them in concert and Chet Hinesley, my co-producer, recorded them…and the whole show. I didn’t know he was recording the whole show. The show turned out so great, we were really cookin’ that night, the audience was on, it was a real party…so he decided that’s how we were gonna do it, put them on a live album.
TCB: And of course there’s a story behind the album’s title, Jerry Reed ‘Live!’…STILL! ?
Jerry: [Laughs] It’s my left handed way of letting people know that Associated Press news story, it came out about 2 years ago, with the news of my death was grossly exaggerated. [Laughter] Let me tell you darlin’…when that came out, my phone lit up. All my friends called- both of them. [Laughter] A buddy of mine called up the house and I answered the phone and said, “Hello?” And he says, “You’re alive!” [Laughter] I said, “Well I was when I woke up this morning. What are you talking about, I’m ‘alive’…of course I’m alive!” And he says, “Well I just heard on the radio that you’d passed away and they were gonna have your funeral service on Sunday.” I said to him, “Well, somebody should’ve informed me, it appears I was left out of the loop! [Laughs] The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated. As a matter of fact, I’m going fishin’ and I ain’t got time for this nonsense!”[Laughter]
So when it came time to pick a name for the album, it took me about 30 seconds and I said, “We’re gonna call it Jerry Reed Live!…STILL! so that all those folks out there who think I’m dead, will think I come back again!” [Laughter] Just like McCartney…now I’m in the same class he is! [Laughter]
TCB: Hey not only McCartney, let’s not forget the guy who originally coined the phrase- Mark Twain. Not bad company to be in at all.
Jerry: Good gracious, can you imagine that? [Laughter] I wanted people to know I’m still alive and well and I ain’t going nowhere!
TCB: One of the two new songs, “Father Time And Gravity”…that one sounds like it could’ve been on the Old Dogs album. Did the songs that Shel (Silverstein) write for that album inspire that one?
Jerry: Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? [Laughs] If I had written that one back then, when we did that album, I’d have put it on. But did he inspire it? Hell no. My ‘inspiration’ comes every morning when I look in the mirror to shave. [Laughter] Your chest’s sliding down into your belly, your head’s poking through your hair…[Laughter] People who are over 50 or 60 know what I’m talking about, but I think even people younger than that, 30 or 35, it’s something I think they can at least start relating to, don’t you?
TCB: Absolutely no comment.
[Laughter]
TCB: Do you think you’ll ever do another album like Old Dogs?
Jerry: No, no…Waylon’s gone and Shel’s gone, so there won’t be anymore Old Dogs…
TCB: Yeah, that’s still really sad, such great losses…but I mean doing something with some other ‘good old boys.’ Maybe something else with Bobby Bare or Mel…
Jerry: Oh yeah…I’ll probably be doing things with Bobby. As a matter of fact we were supposed to go fishing last night, but he never showed up! [Laughter]
TCB: The other new song, “A Brand New Me,” is a terrific gospel song, something different for you.
Jerry: I wrote that one sometime back. It’s autobiographical, so I am now on the straight and narrow. [Chuckles] I am serious about that. When all that success started happening to me, it took me a long time to get over myself, you know, that ego thinking, “oh, I’m so great” and all that. After I finally did, I found the right path and realized everything I had, it was because the good Lord blessed me with it.
Besides his brush with “death” a couple of years ago, he created another stir late last fall when it was announced he was retiring from touring. When asked if he was serious about that, and whether he could really give up performing live, he was quick to answer, “Probably not. [Laughter] In this business, there’s no such thing as retiring. It's a way of life, so I’ll probably be back out there.” He goes on to talk about what he’s currently working on.
TCB: You mentioned you’re working on two new albums, so you want to concentrate more on recording at this point?
Jerry: Yeah, though I’m not sure when they’ll be finished…I wanted to get back in the studio and make some records the way we used to make them, back in the days when everybody was together in the studio at the same time and everybody got their licks in. Nobody was worried about perfection back then; people just tried to get the best songs they could and make the best records they could. Back then, it wasn’t like today where they play to a click track, where they put down the drums and then bring in the rest of the band; then put down the bass, then the guitar…that ain’t no way to make records! I can play you a lot of my records, and there were mistakes on them. But nobody ever knew it because it felt good and we had fun doing it. I tell you, that’s what we lived for, everybody being together in the studio and doing what we did.
TCB: Then you’re still writing a lot?
Jerry: I’ve never really written all that much…the songs for my movies and all, but I’m no Roger Miller…
TCB: Oh come on, you’ve written hundreds of songs…
Jerry: I’ve written a lot of songs, yeah, but I’m not what I’d call ‘prolific’ like- Roger Miller or Harlan Howard or somebody like that.
TCB: I think 300 or so songs qualifies as pretty ‘prolific’…but speaking of Roger Miller, I always tend to put you in the same category as him- the same lovable, incorrigible, hyperactive, Type A personality…[Laughter] …and he wrote some goofy, off the wall songs, and then wrote really beautiful, straightforward ‘from the heart’ songs. You’ve done the same…
Jerry: Yeah, I don’t know how that happens though, it just happens. [Laughs] I look at life with a sense of humor, that’s who I am, and that’s what I like to put into my songs. A lot of the ones I’ve written are instrumental songs. Chet (Atkins) recorded a lot of them.
TCB: Do you have any that are particular personal favorites? Most fans would probably pick “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” or most likely anything from Smokey And The Bandit…but are there any you might personally pick before those?
Jerry: Now honey, something like that’s like asking, ‘which is your favorite child?’ No, I don’t have any favorite; I like them all the same…
The mere mention of Smokey And The Bandit though, immediately steers the conversation onto that topic. Jerry found success not only as a musician, but also as an actor. The medium proved a natural fit with his charismatic personality, and he’s appeared in over a dozen films, several of them co-starring with Burt Reynolds. His best loved, and perhaps most well known role was playing Cletus (“Snowman”), in the immortal Smokey And The Bandit. The movie went on to rank as the second highest grossing movie of 1977 (behind Star Wars). Jerry also wrote and recorded the soundtrack, and it spawned another big hit for him, “East Bound And Down.” He enjoys reminiscing about the movie and is still amazed by it’s enduring popularity, more than 20 years later.
Jerry: …Smokey And The Bandit, [Laughs] now that’s something that’s gonna live forever. Everyday I get people come up and tell me that’s their favorite movie…there’s no killing that one. It’s an institution, it’s gonna just live on forever.
TCB: [Laughter] I’ve gotta raise my hand on that count too- it’s definitely a favorite. You know, every time we watch it, somebody can’t help but say ‘they just don’t make movies like that anymore…’
Jerry: You know, you’re right. They don’t make movies like that anymore- it was like a cartoon, only it was done with live actors, and it was fun. We had no idea what we were doing; we were running up and down the road being chased by police, jumping ditches, wrecking a bunch of cars and motorcycles and just having a blast. You know what? I’ll tell you, in my opinion, I feel that it’s a Jackie Gleason movie, because to me, Buford T. Justice, was the movie. If they’d have thrown us out…me, Burt and Sally…and left Jackie in there, and put him with anybody else, it still would have been a hit. That’s the way I feel about it. The reaction to it’s still amazing. People keep track of it and they’re like, “it’s on Thursday night!”…I think that’s what it is. It was just a fun movie and we had a lot of fun making it, and I think that’s what comes through and connects with people.
TCB: I think there’s a lot of truth in that. I mean even the Trans Am and Buford’s police car were “characters”- it didn’t matter what the Trans Am got subjected to, but in the very next shot- not a scratch, a dent or even a speck of dust on it. It looked like it just rolled out of the showroom, where on the other hand, by the end of the movie, about all that was left of Buford’s police car was the chassis, the engine, the seats and the steering wheel.
Jerry: [Laughter] Yeah, you know, you’ve got a point there. I think they wrecked six or eight Trans Ams doing those stunts, but on the screen that car came out of it without a scratch. [Laughs] That’s why it was like a cartoon. People knew better, but nobody cared, it was all about having fun.
TCB: I swear, every time I’m talking with people and your name comes up, or we’re playing some of your music- inevitably people say ‘Hey, that got me in the mood- I’ve gotta go watch some Smokey And The Bandit now.’
Jerry: [Laughter] I’ll tell you a story. I remember Hal (Needham) came to me and said, “I need a song for this movie Reed. Write me a song.” So I went back home and wrote the chorus to “East Bound and Down.” I had a fellow that was a writer at my publishing company, and I called him and said, “Look, I need two versus for a song real quick.” I sang him my chorus and said, “I’ve already got the thing cut in my mind. I know how I’m going to record it, so here’s the script. I want you to go and write me two quick versus about hauling Coors beer, leaving Atlanta and going down to Texas and loading up the beer- which was illegal- and hauling it back.” He came back with the two verses and I made a demo and took it down to Hal, and it just blew him away. He said, “I’m going to put this out.” I said, “No, that’s just a demo. Man, you can’t put out a demo.” I said, “I’ll go back and cut it.” We did, but it was a strange situation. The soundtrack was on MCA, so they had to work out a deal where I could put it on my record for RCA, and MCA could use it in the movie soundtrack. After the movie came out, Hal said, “I want to go on the road, I haven’t seen your show.” He wanted to see what affect it had on a live audience because he’s in the movie business and most of them don’t work in front of a live audience. We went to this little town in West Virginia and the place was full. People were standing outside looking in the windows because they couldn’t get in. We did “East Bound and Down” and I’m going to tell you what, I’ve never seen anything like it.
TCB: You’ve acted in a lot of other movies, but “Jerry Reed” and “Smokey And The Bandit” seem to be forever connected with people. How do you feel about that?
Jerry: [Laughs] Well it’s great to be identified so closely with something that has connected with so many people and has withstood the years. It was a good time and I feel blessed to have been a part of it. When I went into acting…I’m not “leading man” material, that’s not what I was looking to be…I’m a character [Laughter] and I wanted to be a character actor. I knew I could pull that off, it fits my personality. Besides, they’re the ones who get to have all the real fun. [Laughs] But I think part of that is because I was in the movie and it was a big hit, and the other part is that I had a big hit record that came from it.
Returning to the other aspects of his long career, I asked Jerry about some of his thoughts and feelings looking back at the road he’s traveled.
TCB: As far as your recording career, your biggest hits have been the more high energy, humorous and off-the-wall songs, rather than more straightforward songs. Why do you think that is?
Jerry: Oh I think because again, it reflects who I am. I look at life and see the humor in it, so I like to present it that way. And I never was good at singing ballads; I’m not a balladeer. I do it the way it works best for me, that’s a more honest approach- just being who I am.
TCB: You’re a rarity in the business- the whole package…an extraordinary musician, a great songwriter, a charismatic performer- not to mention a successful actor. Out of all these things, what do you consider yourself primarily?
Jerry: Blessed to have been able to do it all. I’ve written hit songs, I’ve had hit records, I’ve played my guitar on recording sessions with everybody from legends like Bobby Bare to Elvis Presley, I’ve been on a hit TV show and I’ve been in hit movies. I would say I’m an “entertainer.” I wanted to be something more than just a recording artist because I like to entertain. I like to be a “personality,” I like humor and action. To be honest, I’ve enjoyed every aspect of the entertainment business I’ve been involved in, but I get the most fulfillment and enjoyment from writing a good song or performing in front of a live audience. Music is the greatest gift and the greatest gift God ever gave this planet. When I get up on a stage, I try to set a fire to the spirit because I know that’s what people coming to the shows are looking for. The whole point is to get them off their seats and make them have a good time, you know, get them to forget all the crap going on in the world around them for a while.
TCB: You’ve worked with so many greats over the years, from Elvis to Chet Atkins. Who was the most memorable?
Jerry: Chet Atkins. The fondest memory I will ever have from the music business was recording for and with my guitar idol Chet Atkins. How many people get to ever meet their idols? I was blessed to have had the good fortune to work with mine! Between the two of us, we have recorded some 70 of my instrumental compositions. Honey, I will tell you now, without Chet Atkins, there would be no Jerry Reed. Without Chet Atkins I would not have had hit records, I would have not been on the Glen Campbell TV show, I would not have been in the movies I was in. I had been on Capitol and Columbia Records, but nothing was happening for me there. Chet was with RCA and said to me, “Well, you need to come over here and let me record you, because they don't know how to record you.” I went to Columbia and asked them if they’d let me out of my contract so I could go over to RCA. They thought it over for about 10 seconds and decided to let me go. [Laughs] When I got on RCA, that’s when the bomb went off. My records started getting on the charts, the hits started coming, Chet suggested me for the Glen Campbell show, that led to the movies…If it weren’t for Chet Atkins, I would not have been blessed with all the good fortune I’ve had in my career.
TCB: You don’t think you’d have had a successful career without Chet’s help?
Jerry: Well, yeah- but it would’ve taken me a lot longer. [Laughter] I’m living proof that God is alive and well. [Laughs] He allowed me to be successful in spite of myself.
TCB: If you hadn’t gone into show business, what do you think you would have wound up doing?
Jerry: Good gracious, I don’t know; I do not have any idea. [Laughs] I’ve never thought about it, I never wanted to do anything else. I’ve had a love affair with the guitar since I was seven years old. Then, in about the ninth grade, I decided I was going to pursue an acting career. But in my junior year of high school, I met Bill Lowery and Tim Nelson from Capitol Records, and they signed me. So I forgot about the acting, I quit school, and went on the road with a whole bunch of people…Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb…and I knew then that’s what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I’ve been very blessed in my life to have every dream I ever had as a kid come true.
TCB: What would you say your career highlight would be?
Jerry: Getting signed to Capitol Records when I was 17. Can you imagine something like that happening when you’re a 17-year-old kid? Let me tell you, after that happened, I walked around like “Ain’t I great?” It took me years to get over myself! [Laughter] I did though...Eventually. [Laughter]