NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jerry Reed, a popular country singer and movie actor whose larger-than-life storytelling and flashy guitar work vividly evoked Southern life, died early Monday morning at his home here. He was 71.
The cause was emphysema, said Butch Baker, Reed”s friend and song publisher.
Best known in later years for his role in the movie “The Waterboy,” starring Adam Sandler, and in the three “Smokey and the Bandit” adventures of the late ”70s and early ”80s, in which he played Burt Reynolds” gear-shifting sidekick the Snowman, Reed was first and foremost a musician.
Reed accompanied himself on the three dozen Top 40 country hits he recorded under his own name from 1967 to 1983.
“Amos Moses” earned Reed a 1971 Grammy nomination for best male country vocal performance, an award that he won the following year with “When You”re Hot, You”re Hot.” He and the producer and guitarist Chet Atkins received a Grammy in 1971 for best country instrumental performance, for their album “Me and Jerry.” Reed and Atkins won another Grammy in that category, for their CD “Sneakin” Around,” in 1993.
The Country Music Association named Reed musician of the year in 1970 and 1971.
As an in-demand session guitarist in Nashville during the 1960s and ”70s, his staccato finger-picking could be heard on Elvis Presley”s “Guitar Man” and “U.S. Male,” both of which were written by Reed, and on hits by the singer Waylon Jennings, among others.
Jerry Reed Hubbard was born in March 20, 1937, in Atlanta. The son of cotton mill workers, he began playing the guitar in elementary school, later graduating to nightclubs and bars in and around Atlanta as a teenager.
After dropping out of high school to play with country stars like Faron Young and Ernest Tubb, Reed, then 16, was introduced to Atlanta music publisher Bill Lowery, who helped him secure a writing and recording contract with the country division of Capitol Records.
He parted ways with Capitol in the late 1950s and, after serving in the Army, moved to Nashville in 1962 to pursue a career as a songwriter, immediately finding success when Porter Wagoner had a No. 1 country hit with his song “Misery Loves Company.” Reed started doing work as a session guitarist for Atkins at RCA, where his syncopated mix of fretted and open strings galvanized hits by everyone from Bobby Bare to Presley.
After signing with RCA in the mid-”60s, Reed began having hits of his own. He began making regular appearances on the primetime TV variety shows hosted by Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell, and his affable presence led to roles in Hollywood movies.
The first, in “W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings,” began a series of collaborations with Burt Reynolds that included the popular “Smokey and the Bandit” movies. Their soundtracks featured Reed”s music.
Reed is survived by Priscilla Reed, his wife of 49 years, and by two daughters, Sedina and Lottie, and two grandchildren, all of Nashville.
Baker said Reed was especially proud of his final project, “The Gallant Few,” an album made to raise funds for wounded veterans.