Greasy, backbeat swampy, funky stuff: The brilliance that was Jerry Reed

Ladies and gentlemen, the cover of “Jerry Reed Live! Featuring ‘Hot Stuff,’” Reed’s first live album issued August 6, 1979, on RCA Victor. In spite of a dynamic shot of a blue denim shirt-clad Reed soloing on a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, all-new material except for the last two tracks — a drastically rearranged rock version of “Guitar Man” and the always crowd-pleasing “East Bound and Down” — and intentionally being a tie-in with the screwball Miami cop comedy of the same name directed by Dom DeLuise and costarring Suzanne Pleshette, Ossie Davis and Reed, the 11-track record barely dented the Billboard C&W chart where it stalled at No. 45. It’s a crying shame that “Hot Stuff” has yet to be remastered for CD or streaming, yet the film is available on DVD. Reed would release one additional true live LP, 2005’s “Jerry Reed Live! Still!” Photography by Herb Burnette / Sony Music Entertainment / Discogs

Going on the record for the first time, bassist John Harris removes the rose-colored glasses in recollecting his 1988–1989 onstage tenure with certified fretboard wizard Jerry Reed exclusively below. When not tearing up the charts with crossover hits “Amos Moses” and “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” the posthumous Country Music Hall of Famer comically pulled his own weight alongside movie stars Burt Reynolds [Smokey and the Bandit], Gene Hackman [Bat*21], Robin Williams [The Survivors], and as the “What’s a matter with you boy!” Coach Red Beaulieu to Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy. Another Reed milestone — his Smokey theme song “East Bound and Down” can be heard in a Super Bowl commercial pushing F-150 trucks.

The John Harris Interview

What was one of the first instances where you distinctly remember hearing Jerry Reed?

In 1973 or 1974 I was driving around Albuquerque a few years before I moved to Nashville and “Amos Moses” [No. 8 POP, No. 16 C&W, October 1970] came on the radio. I thought, ‘I’d love to play with that guy.’

I wasn’t a country music fan at that time, but the format for the station I tuned into was country. Reed’s stuff was greasy, backbeat swampy, funky stuff, and it turned my head around. I don’t remember what I ate…