Jerry Reed – Guitar Man

When I hear the phrase “chicken picken” I think of Jerry Reed. He was one the best guitar players in country or rock. My step-dad had his greatest hits on 8-track and I wore it out in his truck. Songs like Amos Moses and When You’re Hot You’re Hot I instantly liked. 

The most famous story of the song involved Elvis Presley. Shortly after Jerry Reed released Guitar Man, Elvis Presley became interested in recording the song. However, when Presley’s studio musicians couldn’t replicate Reed’s unique guitar playing, producer Felton Jarvis called Jerry Reed himself to play in the session.

When Reed arrived, he saw that the studio musicians had been trying to copy his style but were using standard electric guitars. Reed restrung an acoustic guitar with heavier strings and started playing his signature licks. Elvis immediately said: “You mean that’s all you do? Just pick like that? Hell, I’ve been looking for that sound all night!.” The song was released as a single in 1968 and appeared on Elvis’ album Clambake.

At the time, it was common for Elvis (or his management Colonel Tom Parker) to demand a share of the publishing rights for songs he recorded. Songwriters were often pressured to sign over part of their royalties if they wanted their songs to be performed by Presley, ensuring that his team made money beyond record sales.

However, Jerry Reed refused to give up his publishing rights. He stood his ground, which meant he kept full credit and royalties for Guitar Man. The reason Jerry got by with is and Dolly Parton didn’t is because the song was already recorded and Elvis loved it. 

Jerry Reed’s version peaked at #53 on the Billboard Country Charts. Elvis’s version peaked at #43 on the Billboard 100 and #36 in Canada. He had to be thrilled to hang on to the rights of the song. It hit #1 in the Country Charts in 1981 on a remixed version of Elvis’s original recording. 

Guitar Man

Well, I quit my job down at the car washLeft my mama a goodbye noteBy sundown I’d left KingstonWith my guitar under my coatI hitchhiked all the way down to MemphisGot a room at the YMCAFor the next three weeks, I went huntin’ them nightsJust lookin’ for a place to playWell, I thought my pickin’ would set ’em on fireBut nobody wanted to hire a guitar man

Well, I nearly ’bout starved to death down in MemphisI run outta money and luckSo I bought me a ride down to Macon, GeorgiaOn a overloaded poultry truckI thumbed on down to Panama CityStarted pickin’ out some o’ them all night barsHopin’ I could make myself a dollarMakin’ music on my guitarI got the same old story at them all night piersThere ain’t no room around here for a guitar manWe don’t need a guitar man, son

So I slept in the hobo junglesRoamed a thousand miles of trackTill I found myself in Mobile AlabamaAt a club they call Big Jack’sA little four-piece band was jammin’So I took my guitar and I sat inI showed ’em what a band would sound likeWith a swingin’ little guitar manShow ’em, son

If you ever take a trip down to the oceanFind yourself down around MobileOh make it on out to a club called Jack’sIf you got a little time to killJust follow that crowd of peopleYou’ll wind up out on his dance floorDiggin’ the finest little five piece groupUp and down the Gulf of MexicoGuess who’s leadin’ that five-piece bandWell, wouldn’t ya know, it’s that swingin’ little guitar manYeah yeah, guitar man, hahaha

…

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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.

47 thoughts on “Jerry Reed – Guitar Man”

  1. Good song! For some reason when I was in early grade school my Dad (who was in the music business on the soul music side of things then) was into Jerry Reed. So, I heard those early 70’s records somehow back then. By the time that he (Jerry Reed) got to the ‘Hooper’ movies for me he was already a star. I thought he was funky in his delivery not in the ‘Bootsy’ Collins way of funking but in that genre’s way of funking.

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    1. Yes…I get what you are saying…not that type of funky but another type. I listen to his guitar playing and I’m blown away.
      It seems when Smokey and the Bandit came out…he hit huge.

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      1. Lol…aaahhh, right Smokey & the Bandit not ‘Hooper’…lol. Wrong Burt Reynolds movie. Ya’, I agree with ya’ he hit right after that nationally but he had been known but not like after Smokey & the Bandit. Jerry was really good.

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    1. Well i was going to say that those two are two great…I mean great guitar players. There is a story from Alice Cooper (good friends with Campbell) about Eddie Van Halen wanting Campbell to give him some lessons on how he played…and he did. Alice Copper set it up. That is how good that man was….and Reed wasn’t far behind.

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  4. Yep, was introduced to Reed’s play like a lot my age, pickin’ and grinnin’ on the Glen Campbell show (the way Campbell’s story ended was horrible)…Reed never seemed to get his due, most seem to know him Smokey and the Bandit (his tunes on that soundtrack are great) or course Amos Mosses……when you talk chicken pickin’ I automatically think of that Jerry Jeff Walker live album…

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    1. I’ll check that out with the Walker album…I just recently started to get into him.
      Him and Campbell were great guitarist…especially Campbell. He was on a level above most.

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  5. Pretty hard for anyone to duplicate Jerry Reed on your best day. Great song. While I knew about the Dolly story I had not heard about the one with this song. Good for Jerry to stand his ground, couldn’t have been easy.

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    1. Well he had leverage on Parker that Dolly didn’t have…they already recorded the song so either they could have scrapped it or used it…Elvis liked it so much that Parker had no choice. Reed seemed like a guy who didn’t care who he was against.

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  6. Good story! I’m glad he got to keep all the writing or publishing royalties. It’s pretty rock-y for Elvis but I like his take on it a bit better than the original. However Reed’s guitar work is impressive on his version

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    1. Yea I told someone I did like Reeds version better…probably because I heard it first from an 8 track we had….but both are good!

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  8. Reed is one of the greatest of Nashville guitar picking. I saw him on a weekly variety show picking with Glen Campbell, holy crap, what a pairing. Chicken scracthin is hard to play, gotta hold your tongue just right.

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  11. Elvis kept saying “That don’t sound like Reed’s record.” So his guitar player told him to get it to sound like Reed, he had to get Reed. Jerry was out fishing when they found him. He attended the session still wearing some of his fishing gear.

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  12. Jerry was so great. I remember my brother having the 45 of “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot”. I’m sure I saw him on the Glen Campbell show at some time, because we always used to watch it. I think I have a cassette of him and Chet Atkins that I got at Salvation Army years ago. As far as funk goes, if Primus covers one of your songs, you must be pretty funky.

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    1. Primus did do a good verison of Amos Moses…I agree! When You’re Hot, You’re Hot is such a fun song. Him with Chet Atkins is very interesting.

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  15. Oh Max you know how much I love this song. The story makes me laugh out loud with glee. Take that, Colonel Parker! I’ve loved Jerry Reed since hearing Amos Moses and have seen/heard him in so many places. I remember him being Burt Reynold’s sidekick in Smokey and the Bandit. Also, when he was in an album’s worth of duets with the great Chet Atkins in Four Masters Classics Albums 1978-1997 (with Chet also on 3 other albums with Les Paul, Mark Knopfler, and Tommy Emmanuel.

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    1. Keith just posted a link to The Claw with him and Chet Atkins….I will listen to them. I think him and Campbell were two of the best in any genre.
      Getting one over on Parker was SO worth it. Thank you Lisa!

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    1. He sure was John…I had to look it up! I’m in IT but I’m terrible with acronyms! Him and Glen Campbell were two of the greatest.

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      1. And don’t forget Chet or the other CGP’s: Tommy Emmanuel, John Knowles, Steve Wariner. Incredible players, all of them. Glen was a legend: no guy could play in as many genres as he did. I think he was better than all of them, but as Muddy Waters used to say, “You can never be the best, all you can be is a good’un.” Words to live by.

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      2. Eddie Van Halen…actually met with Alice Cooper…because he had him ask Glen Campbell to give him some guitar lessons in the way he played…Alice has told that story…that is wild.
        YES…. Muddy had it right…

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      3. One of the most touching tributes I heard after Glen Campbell died was from Alice Cooper. You wouldn’t think they’d be friends, but they were quite close, from the sound of it. He told that story, and made it sound like EVH wasn’t the only one. I remember there was a guy in high school who practically worshipped Glen, and we all thought he was nuts (of course, that wasn’t the only reason; The guy was koo-koo for Cocoa Puffs), but he was right about that.

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      4. lol Koo-Koo…he was right though! But Glen wasn’t a cool choice…but the right one.
        I saw what you were talking about…Alice seems like a very grounded guy and is a big believer in God….I think that is what brought him and Glen together. Just a pity on what happened to Campbell.

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