Before He Was the Snowman He Was the “Guitar Man”; the Meaning Behind Jerry Reed’s First of Many Hits

The lyrics to “Guitar Man” really mirror the professional journey of Jerry Reed. It was his first song that reached the country charts and put the young singer on the map.

Well, I quit my job down at the car wash
Left my mama a goodbye note
By sundown, I’d left Kingston
With my guitar under my coat

Jerry Reed was a guitar man. Some know him as “the Snowman” from Smokey and the Bandit. Other people know him as the singer of “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” and “Amos Moses.” A couple generations might even know him in animated form as a buddy of Scooby-Doo. Before any of that, though, he was a guitar player in Atlanta, Georgia. He discovered the music and guitar style of Merle Travis, in particular, and then developed his own style of fingerpicking.

I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis
Got a room at the YMCA
For the next three weeks, I went huntin’ them nights
Just lookin’ for a place to play
Well, I thought my pickin’ would set ’em on fire
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man

Reed was discovered, though, by Bill Lowery, who pushed for Capitol Records to sign the young singer/songwriter/picker. He went to Nashville to record. After a few unsuccessful singles released under his own name, Reed felt defeated.

Well, I nearly ’bout starved to death down in Memphis
I run outta money and luck
So I bought me a ride down to Macon, Georgia
On a overloaded poultry truck

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As Reed continued to miss the charts, where he did have success was as a songwriter. Gene Vincent released “Crazy Legs,” which failed to chart, but then Brenda Lee hit the top 10 with “That’s All You Gotta Do.” Reed was encouraged. He kept performing, recording, and working as a session guitarist. One of his singles came to the attention of Nashville producer Chet Atkins—whose nickname, by the way, was “Mr. Guitar” due to his own consummate guitar picking style that was also influenced by Travis—who signed Reed to a record deal with RCA Records.

I thumbed on down to Panama City
Started pickin’ out some o’ them all-night bars
Hopin’ I could make myself a dollar
Makin’ music on my guitar
I got the same old story at them all-night piers
There ain’t no room around here for a guitar man
We don’t need a guitar man, son

An album was recorded, The Unbelievable Guitar and Voice of Jerry Reed, and “Guitar Man” was the first single released. The song was a moderate success, reaching No. 53 on the Billboard country chart. It was just the beginning of a successful career, however, as Reed would have many more hits, including three No. 1s.

So I slept in the hobo jungles
Roamed a thousand miles of track
Till I found myself in Mobile, Alabama
At a club they call Big Jack’s

A few months after Reed recorded it, Elvis Presley recorded “Guitar Man.” Scotty Moore, Chip Young, Harold Bradley, and Charlie McCoy were the guitarists on the session. The unique rhythm and style of the Reed recording was proving difficult to replicate. After multiple attempts, Presley simply recommended getting Reed himself to come into the studio.

Producer Felton Jarvis tracked down Reed, who was fishing on the Cumberland River. He told the guitarist what the situation was. Reed had used an open tuning on the recording and fingerpicked it. He told them the only way they could get that sound was to bring him in. Jarvis agreed and paid Reed to come into the studio. Jerry played the nylon string acoustic guitar, which was exactly what Elvis wanted. “Big Boss Man” was recorded at the same session with Reed also on guitar. Both songs were included on the soundtrack album to the movie Clambake, even though they did not appear in the film. The Presley version reached no. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100.

A little four-piece band was jammin’
So I took my guitar, and I sat in
I showed them what a band would sound like
With a swingin’ little guitar man
Show ’em, son

The story doesn’t end there. In 1981, Reed updated the backing track to the song. The original recording of Presley’s voice was kept, and studio musicians were brought in to re-record. This version went all the way to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Singles chart. In 2005, Reed’s version of “Guitar Man” appeared in the Johnny Knoxville/Seann William Scott/Jessica Simpson film version of The Dukes of Hazzard.

If you ever take a trip down to the ocean
Find yourself down around Mobile
Oh make it on out to a club called Jack’s
If you got a little time to kill
Just follow that crowd of people
You’ll wind up out on his dance floor
Diggin’ the finest little five-piece group
Up and down the Gulf of Mexico
Guess who’s leadin’ that five-piece band
Well, wouldn’t ya know, it’s that swingin’ little guitar man

Reed won two CMA Awards for Instrumentalist of the Year and three Grammy Awards, two for Best Country Instrumental Performance and one for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. He passed away in Nashville on September 1, 2008. His legacy lives on, though, through the hit songs, the memorable movie roles, and the unique finger-picked guitar stylings he concocted that continue to influence musicians of all ages and genres.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images