For the past four decades, Jerry Reed has been one of the hardest working good ol' boys in the music industry, Nashville or otherwise. In this day where country musicians callous their hands thumbing through Billboard to see how many units have moved, Reed roughed his up honestly -- from his pen and his guitar. And the sixty-one-year-old "Guitar Man" has the resume to show for it. First there's the songs: "Amos Moses," "U.S. Male," "Misery Loves Company," "Eastbound and Down." Then there's the long list of luminaries who have called on Reed for session aid: Bobby Bare, Eddy Arnold, Porter Wagoner, Carl Perkins, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.

If you're still drawing a blank, well, he was also Snowman of Smokey and the Bandit fame. But while Reed speaks highly of his film career, it's still his pickin' that talks the sweetest. Reed's hard-driving rhythm runs and staccato lead licks were a groundbreaking force in country music. Following a lengthy hiatus, this heir to Chet Atkins' finger-picking legacy has a vibrant new album -- Pickin' -- as well as a role in the recent hit film The Waterboy. We caught up with the amiable Reed to pick his brain on what keeps him going.

So how's it feel to finally get some new music out there?

We had a great time doing it. I hadn't made a record in years. The only thing that's been released was "Best of This" and "Whatever That." So I had this new stuff, and I went back and got a bunch of my old pickin' buddies. It was like old times.

A lot of your contemporaries from the Seventies seem to be mellowing out lately, but you still sound vibrant. What's keeping you going?

I'm just trying to be like an old Baptist preacher. I like to get in the studio and get the spirit moving, throwing babies up in the air. I've recorded for years and you go into two, three, four sessions a day and, my Lord, it just bores you to tears. This time we'd get in there and I'd say, "Now boys, I want you to play ignorant. (Laughs) Forget everything you ever knew about picking." I'd like to coin that phrase. When it gets too sophisticated, you just say, "We need a dose of ignorance here."

Chet Atkins gave you your first big break in the business, right?

Well, I started recording back in '55. And my records were selling like hot cakes -- about fifty cents a stack. Then when I got to Nashville, Chet said, "Why don't you come over here and let me record you. They ain't recording you right. Let's just see what happens." And that was just like Pandora's Box for me. It just turned me loose.

Now you weren't just covered by Elvis, you actually got to play with him, didn't you?

Elvis heard "Guitar Man" and he fell in love with the song and he wanted to record it. They had three or four guitar players and Elvis kept saying, "That don't sound right." And they said if you want that to sound like Reed's record, you're gonna have to get him to play it, because he tunes that guitar up all weird and he claws that thing. I was on the Cumberland River, fishing, and they called on me to come in there and pick, and of course I hadn't shaved in three or four days. I looked like death warmed over. I walked in there and Elvis says, "What is that?" (Laughs) So, I sat down and I tuned that old gut string, and I hit that intro and his eyes lit up.

Have you done any session work with the younger Nashville stars today? They don't seem to place the same emphasis on the picking.

No, you're right. From what I gather all the sessions are starting to sound alike. Same group of musicians playing the same licks on everybody else's records to where you can't tell them apart. I have trouble telling who the hell's singing what. You know, used to you could identify people. When a Johnny Cash record kicked off, you knew who the hell it was. And Merle Haggard. They were identifiable. I don't hear a lot of that today, but that's the way of the world. But the thing about the guitar is that it works every time. It works every generation.

So on another note, how was The Waterboy? I confess, I haven't seen it yet.

You haven't seen The Waterboy yet? What galaxy do you live in?

I'm slow on these things.

Man, that's made like $150 million! You need to go see it. We had fun reading that thing. I'm not a polished, practiced actor, but I've done enough movies to where I can walk and talk and hit my spot. But I'm not a Richard Burton by any stretch of the imagination.

Did you drive the truck in Smokey?

Yeah, I did it. But they did the stunts and whatnot, 'cause they can't afford for you to screw up and hurt yourself.

As a kid, Snowman was right behind Han Solo as the guy I most wanted to grow up to be. I even had the same vest you wore.

You're kidding me? (Laughs) You know the thing has turned into a cult movie. I swear to God, I've had teenagers come up to get an autograph, and they never had a clue that I played the guitar.

Either way, you sound pretty content with your lot in life.

Oh yeah, God's been good to me, son. (Laughs) He's been great to this old boy.

ANDREW DANSBY
(February 18, 1999)