She got the gold mine

Your Redheadedstranger was in the shower today, a-latherin' and a-scrubbin' and listening to the radio news when the final throwaway item in the top-of-the-hour news update upset the delicate balance of his shower ritual...

Jerry Reed was dead.

Emphysema, they said. 71, they said.



Here's Jerry on the Porter Wagoner show (note the Nudie suits in play here!) picking one of my favorite old timey country tunes and putting his own spin on it.

Jerry Reed was by no means a terribly influential country artist - most people under 40 know him better for his turns in Smokey and the Bandit and The Waterboy than his recordings - but there was something about a Jerry Reed tune that set it apart.

Maybe it was the guitar style. Maybe it was the blues influence. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the way every song he did seemed to say, "Listen, pal - I don't give a flying f*&$ if you want to hear Adios, Amigo. That dude in the back wants to hear When You're Hot You're Hot again and he's the one buying the beer."

Dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young. Lordy.