Elvis Presley’s cover of ‘Talk About the Good Times’ contains an uncredited Jerry Reed guitar solo

Jerry Reed’s blue denim ensemble, mutton chop sideburns, turquoise necklace, wristbands, and red, white, and black belt buckle of an American eagle reek of the Disco Decade. “A Good Woman’s Love” was the celebrated claw picker’s 17th studio album, dropped in June 1974 on RCA Victor. The title cut [No. 12 C&W] and the Guitar Man’s own composition “Crude Oil Blues” [No. 91 POP, No. 13 C&W] were Top 20 hits on Billboard’s country chart. Although a decent seller [five weeks on the C&W chart, peaking at No. 28], the album signaled a downward trajectory in Reed’s fortunes until the anthemic “East Bound and Down” three years later. Of the LP’s 10 songs, “Everybody Needs Someone” was also penned by Reed, while he arranged “Oh Shenandoah” and “Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms.” Propelled by a clavinet, Reed even did justice to Elvis Presley’s “Mystery Train.” Mentor Chet Atkins co-produced the proceedings with Reed, and the band included Atkins apprentice Paul Yandell, fiddle maestro Vassar Clements, and powerhouse drummer Larrie London. After being unavailable for 45 years unless you held onto the original vinyl, “A Good Woman’s Love” was finally reissued in January 2019 to digital outlets with minimal fanfare. Photography by Bob Jones / Sony Music Entertainment / Pandora

“Nobody can play like Jerry Reed.” Darrell Toney, baritone singer-acoustic guitarist for Terry Blackwood and the Imperials, swears in an exclusive interview that Reed overdubbed the 15-second gut string guitar solo on Elvis Presley’s cookin’ cover of “Talk About the Good Times,” the penultimate cut on 1974’s Good Times. Reed, also signed to RCA Victor, originally wrote and released the quasi-gospel barn burner yearning for days gone by “when a friend would meet you and a smile would greet you” on 1970’s Georgia Sunshine. His style is unmistakable starting at the 74-second mark. It’s pianist David Briggs and Master of Telecaster James Burton, who were tracking live with Elvis in Memphis’s Stax Studio, that you hear during the break on the rejected take three finally distributed on 1998’s Essential Elvis Volume 5.

Reed, who once unpretentiously reckoned his playing to “picking with my fingers and tuning that guitar up all weird kinds of ways,” has never been credited until now. Felton Jarvis, Elvis’s compadre and producer on the vast majority of his studio and live discography from 1966 through his untimely demise, took the basic tracks, cut on December 14, 1973, to Nashville the next month for sweetening without any further involvement from Elvis.