Jerry Reed – Amos Moses

Well I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to?

I can still see the 8-track of Jerry Reed’s greatest hits in my stepdad’s truck. Jerry was a great guitar player but that gets lost sometimes because of his later acting career. He played guitar on his own recordings, as well as on sessions for Elvis, Bobby Bare, Porter Wagoner, Joan Baez, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, and others.

Whenever I read or think about the best guitarists…I think Jimi Hendrix (my favorite), Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, SRV, and others. Some guitarists seem to be left out in the country field. Jerry Reed, Roy Clark, and perhaps the greatest of them all…Glen Campbell. Jerry Reed’s style is what I always called “chicken picking” and he was one of the greats.

Frankly, I was surprised when I checked Billboard and saw how successful he was in the charts. He had 51 songs in the Country 100 charts…including three number 1’s and six top ten hits. In the Billboard 100, he had ten songs in the top 100 including two top 10 hits. Amos Moses was one of them… peaking at #8 in the Billboard 100 and #16 in the Country Charts in 1971…The other song was When You’re Hot, You’re Hot at #9.

The song’s popularity further established Reed as a prominent figure in the country music scene. His last number-one in the country charts was “She Got the Gold Mine (I Got the Shaft)” in 1982… Why did I mention it? How could I not with a title like that?

The song appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Chet Atkins produced this recording.

This is from Guitar Player magazine.

WHEN PEOPLE TALK ABOUT UNDERRATED guitarists, the name Jerry Reed often doesn’t even come up. That’s how underrated Jerry Reed is. More often viewed as an actor, singer, or variety show regular, Reed possessed mindboggling guitar technique that incorporated intricate fingerpicking, gorgeous cascading harp-style runs, and an infectious, funky sense of rhythm and humor. He got his start as a songwriter, penning “Crazy Legs” (which would be covered by Gene Vincent and later inspire an album of the same name by Jeff Beck) and “Guitar Man,” which caught the ear of Elvis Presley. By the mid-’60s, Mr. Guitar himself, Chet Atkins, had taken note of Reed’s amazing fingerstyle prowess and began producing and collaborating with Reed, most notably on the albums Me & Jerry and Me & Chet.

Amos Moses

Yeah here comes Amos
Now Amos Moses was a Cajun
He lived by himself in the swamp
He hunted alligator for a living
He’d just knock them in the head with a stump
The Louisiana law gonna get you Amos
It ain’t legal hunting alligator down in the swamp boy

Now everyone blamed his old man
For making him mean as a snake
When Amos Moses was a boy
His daddy would use him for alligator bait
Tie a rope around his neck and throw him in the swamp
Alligator bait in the Louisiana bayou
About forty-five minutes southeast of Tippitoe, Louisiana
Lived a man called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah
Well, they raised up a son that could eat up his weight in groceries
Named him after a man of the cloth
Called him Amos Moses, yeah

Now the folks around south Louisiana
Said Amos was a hell of a man
He could trap the biggest, the meanest alligator
And he’d just use one hand
That’s all he got left cause an alligator bit it
Left arm gone clear up to the elbow

Well the sheriff caught wind that Amos was in the swamp trapping alligator skin
So he snuck in the swamp gonna get the boy
But he never come out again
Well I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to
Well you can sure get lost in the Louisiana bayou
About forty-five minutes southeast of Tippitoe, Louisiana
Lived a cat called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah
Well, they raised up a son that could eat up his weight in groceries
Named him after a man of the cloth
Called him Amos Moses

Sit down on ’em Amos!
Make it count son
About forty-five minutes southeast of Tippitoe, Louisiana
Lived a man called Doc Mills South and his pretty wife Hannah

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

42 thoughts on “Jerry Reed – Amos Moses”

  1. I had this single, though the flip side of mine was “The Preacher And The Bear” (written by JP Richardson, AKA The Big Bopper). Jerry is one of the very few “Certified Guitar Pickers” in the world. That was Chet Atkins’s idea, to award himself that title and to give it to several of friends. Jerry, John Knowles, Tommy Emmanuel, Steve Wariner, Marcel Dadi, and Paul Yandell (Chet’s longtime sideman) are the other ones. Jerry was one HELL of a guitar player…

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  4. I’d always thought of Jerry Reed as a novelty act from his radio hits. Thanks for getting me to listen to him. A Youtube tour was a pretty nice detour this morning. My list of favorite guitarists included some country/western/folk players (Eldon Shamblin, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Chet Atkins, Nina Gerber, Glen Campbell), but I hadn’t really heard Jerry Reed until today.

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    1. Glad you liked it. A few of his songs do lean that novelty way I will admit… but he did have some really good ones…I’ve always liked Chet Atkins as well…I need to look up the others.

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    1. I never realized how many either. For me…he is a guitar god…his playing makes me never want to play a guitar again lol…he was that good. I’m joking of course about the not playing…but no…the playing he did is not in my pay grade.

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    1. Glen does sing in a rougher voice on this one. I think that live video was in the early eighties…right after Glen broke up with Tanya Tucker.

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  8. Great choice for a Friday, Max. I sing this song like a mantra along with Jerry. You’re right, he’s seriously underrated. He has the skills and the personality to take him to the moon and back. I was thinking he was still alive (well, he still is, through his music!) I’ve mentioned the 4-album boxed set I have with Chet Atkins, called, “Four Masters Classic Albums 1978-1997, where Chet plays duets with Les Paul, Jerry Reed, Mark Knopfler, and Tommy Emmanuel. The chit-chat going on between them between cuts makes this a gem of a set for anyone who appreciates masterful guitar work beyond rock and roll.

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    2. I agree Lisa he is tremendously underrated. He was a very good songwriter to and I loved what he did to Tom Parker. He wrote US male and Elvis wanted to cover it so they got Jerry Reed to do the guitar parts. After it was over, and Elvis had made a good cut of it, Tom Parker told Jerry Reed well we get 50% of the publishing and Jerry said no you don’t. He told Parker then he would refuse to let them release it so Elvis told Parker I want to release this song so Jerry got all of his publishing.
      I will have to look that up. That sounds really good.

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      1. Good for Jerry! After watching that biopic and how the col cheated Elvis and psychologically manipulated him, hell is too good for the col. After making that comment I listened to the ones Jerry and Chet did.

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      2. Yea I’m so glad he held his ground. Elvis I don’t think knew all of the story but thats his fault if he didn’t…Jerry wouldn’t go for that. He was one of the few to win.
        I can’t believe we are finally on here at the same time!

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  11. He was a top-shelf picker, as good as Chet but with a different style. I like this tune, and yep, I had his 8 track tape for my Lear-Jet tape player in my 67 Malibu. Worst thing he did was getting involved with that dipwad Burt Reynolds.

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      1. I have to confess, I didn’t care much for the movie, but Jerry Reeds parts were darn funny. Him and that Basset Hound in the truck, and Jackie Gleason as the sheriff. By luck, I had a Trans Am like that back in the early 90s, it was a rocket on wheels and glad I got rid of it.

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      2. He just seemed like a down to earth guy…I saw him around Christmas one year in the mall…didn’t get to meet him though. I’m not that type… but yea…he was a good actor.

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