Jerry Reed
b. Atlanta, Georgia, March 20, 1937; d. September 1, 2006
Jerry Reed made indelible marks on country music as a
recording artist, a songwriter, and a virtuoso guitarist.
Reed’s guitar work was marked by syncopation and complexity,
while his songwriting and stage persona conveyed strutting wit and backwoods
intelligence. Raised in Georgia, he moved to Nashville in 1962, taking jobs as
a session guitarist and writing songs for country heavies including Porter
Wagoner. Encouraged by guitar great Chet Atkins, Reed developed an instantly
recognizable and idiosyncratic guitar style that suited humor-filled
compositions including “Guitar Man” and “Amos Moses.” He and Atkins won a 1970
Grammy for instrumental album Me and Jerry, and Reed followed that a year later
with a Grammy for country male vocal performance on “When You’re Hot, You’re
Hot.” A third Grammy, this one for country instrumental performance, came in
1993 for another duo effort with Atkins.
Other major Reed hits include “Lord, Mr. Ford,” “East Bound
and Down,” and “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft).” He also won positive
notice for his acting roles in films including W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings,
and Smokey and the Bandit.
“Every move he made was to entertain, and make the world
more fun,” said Reed devotee Brad Paisley. “Because he was such a great,
colorful personality with his acting and songs and entertaining, sometimes
people didn’t even notice that he was just about the best guitarist you’ll ever
hear.”
Don Schlitz
b. Durham, North Carolina, August 29, 1952
Don Schlitz is among the most impactful and eloquent
songwriters in country music history.
Schlitz’s first hit came in 1978, when Kenny Rogers recorded
“The Gambler,” an epic composition that garnered a Grammy Award and that became
both a signature song for Rogers and a highlight of country music’s modern era.
Schlitz went on to co-write major hits including “On the Other Hand,” “Forever
and Ever, Amen,” “When You Say Nothing at All,” “Strong Enough to Bend,” “Old
School,” “Gimme Wings,” “Deeper Than the Holler,” “I Take My Chances,” “I Feel
Lucky,” “Learning to Live Again,” and many more. His songs have been recorded
by Country Music Hall of Fame members Alabama, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire,
Ronnie Milsap,
George Strait, and Randy Travis.
Elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993
and to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012, Schlitz is known for songs that
brim with wisdom and empathy. For decades, those songs have been heard during
regular appearances at Nashville’s Bluebird Café, where Schlitz co-created the
now-prevalent “in-the-round” format with collaborators Fred Knobloch, Paul
Overstreet, and Thom Schuyler.
Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
b. Newnan, Georgia, October 17, 1958
As a songwriter, recording artist, and performer, Alan
Jackson brought tradition-drenched country music into the new century.
A member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Jackson
has sold more than sixty million albums and notched twenty-six Billboard #1
country singles. His often-autobiographical songs are marked by humility,
humor, and eloquent simplicity. He is a three-time CMA Entertainer of the Year,
and his plainspoken “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” won a
Best Country Song Grammy.
Jackson revived songs recorded by Country Music Hall of Fame
members Tom T. Hall, George Jones, and Don Williams, and he wrote gems
including “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” “Livin’ on
Love,” and “Remember When,” all of which mined personal experience in
communicating communal truth. In a recording career that began in 1989, he has
lived by a simple edict: “Keep it country.”
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