Music/Livin': Sad Day at Southern Brand
Jerry Reed has passed on.
To me Jerry Reed's music has a joy and energy that's rarely been matched. And he seemed like such a fun lovin' fella, I couldn't help but smile every time I'd come across a clip of the "hairy-legged, guitar-pickin' man." To this day, I start bouncin' and kickin' and gigglin' whenever "Amos Moses" or "She got the goldmine, I got the shaft" comes on.
Mentored and urged to play more guitar in his unique finger-picking style by the great Chet Atkins, Jerry was that rare cat who could do it all and seemed to make everything seem effortless, from acting to great guitar to writing great songs, Jerry's magic came at you like it was the most natural thing in the world. A redneck renaissance man.
I remember watching him act with Burt Reynolds in W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings, and get directed by Burt as a real bad guy in Gator. He was a laugh riot in The Waterboy with Adam Sandler. And he was great in a flick Dom Deluise directed where he played a cop (Hot Stuff - theme song by who else? Jerry Reed), and I loved him with Robin Williams in the comedy The Survivors as a crook.
Musically, just like with acting, he made it all look easy. From the funk-country-- (did he invent that? I think he did!) that drives When You're Hot You're Hot, to the country boogie jump of East Bound & Down (From Smokey and the Bandit where he was redneck-unforgetable as Cletus Snow - The Snowman)
He wrote Guitar Man and then played on it when it was recorded by the King, as well as U.S. Male at the same session.
Amos Moses is swamp-boggie-country-glam - I mean this cat from Alabama could do it all. The wiki entry is linked here. This man was more than just a sum of his achievements, wide and varied. He was 100 percent an American Original. Got a long way to go but a short time to get there. RIP wild man.
Comments (1) [Posted by Coop] Print Email This
Music: Johnny Cash - One Piece At A Time
You know they built that car - the one from "One Piece At A Time." They built her for Johnny Cash. The song was written as an homage of sorts to the Detroit auto workers who built Cadillacs, but could never afford to purchase one. Wayne Kemp wrote it. He played lead guitar for George Jones and wrote a buncha great tunes, including "I'm The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised" for Johnny Paycheck. According to blogger Ted Baylis, Bruce Fitzpatrick, (standing far right in the pic) owner of Abernathy Auto Parts and Hilltop Auto Salvage in Nashville, TN, was asked by the promoters of the song to build the vehicle for international promotion. Bruce had all the different models of Cadillac mentioned in the song when it was released, and built a Cadillac using the song as a model. The car was presented to Cash in April of 1976.
We stumbled upon a video Johnny did for that thing - and well, maybe a video wasn't quite the right thing to do at that point. Starts out real cool with a performance, and then at about the 45 second mark, the home movie clips start. I don't know what 'ol Johnny was on but he's shakin' it on the hood like a gal in a Sir-Mix-Alot video. But man, he's still Johnny freakin' Cash. As for the car, they had her parked out in front of the House of Cash (check out Steve Menke's great Johnny Cash site) for a few weeks way back when, wonder where she is now.
Posted in Music
Comments (0) [Posted by Catfish] Print Email This
Music/Livin': Happy Birthday Willie!
Check out Texas Monthly's beautiful tribute to Willie.
Comments (0) [Posted by Rooster] Print Email This