"Guitar Country" is not like any other country. Its boundaries are endless. The laws which govern it are simply good taste and talent. Like other countries, it has its frustrations, fears and even failures, but it also has rewards beyond imagination - and not only tangible ones, for "Guitar Country" is inhabited by a special breed of dedicated people who find sustenance merely in being accepted by one another and waste little time in the petty envies and prejudices which are too much a part of other worlds. It is the open admiration the inhabitants of "Guitar Country" have for another that brings us to Jerry Reed. No one is more suited to the exploration of "Guitar Country" than Jerry, for he is accepted by all the pickers who live there as one of their very own. And he is deserving of all the plaudits which have come his way and will continue to come his way. Jerry Reed is a dedicated, unhibited picker whose lack of pretense makes him brother to anyone who ever found himself addicted to the guitar - and that number is legion. Jerry moves through the "other world" like a shadow, or a ray of sunshine, or a raindrop, or a puff of wind - those intangibles which leave such tangible marks on everyone and everything they come into contact with. The greats and the near-greats of this "other world" pay him homage as he carries on a tender love affair with his guitar, but the romance is so wholesome, so unselfish that those who have never experienced it can only envy him. On stage he is everyone in the audience - and he is none of them. Childlike in his enthusiasm, he immidiately establishes a rapport of which some performers can only dream. He is a great guitar player who sometimes accompanies himself singing. He is a great singer who sometimes accompanies himself on the guitar. Always he is himself - one of the leading citizens of that happy place called "Guitar Country". And always he is Jerry Reed - a young man it is my pleasure to know and to call friend.- The thoughts of Chet Atkins in the words of Bob Tubert -
JERRY REED
EXPLORES GUITAR COUNTRY
RCA Victor LSP-4204October/1969
Produced by Chet Atkins & Bob Ferguson
Jerry Reed - vocal/guitarPete Wade, Jimmy Capps - guitar
Ray Edenton - rh.guitar
Roy Huskey, Henry Strzelecki, Bobby Dyson - bass
Jerry Carrigan, James Isbell, Willie Ackerman, Ralph Galant - drums
Larry Butler, Beegie Cruser - organ
Sonny Osborne, Larry McNeely - banjo
Recorded:
May 7/1969, RCA Victor studio, Nashville (2,9,10,12)
May 19/1969, RCA Victor studio, Nashville (5,6)
May 22/1969, RCA Victor studio, Nashville (3,8,11)
May 29/1969, RCA Victor studio, Nashville (1,4,7)
1.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND
(Stuart Gorrell - Hoagy Carmichael) « © '30 Peer Music, BMI »Georgia Georgia the whole night through
Just an old sweet song got Georgia got Georgia on my mind
Georgia Georgia a song of you
It comes soft and clear like moonlight to the pines
Other arms reach out for and me other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see the road leadin' back to you
Georgia Georgia ohthe whole night through
Just an old sweet song got Georgia on my mind
**********
2.
SITTIN' ON TOP OF THE WORLD
(Lonnie Carter - Walter Jacobs) « © '58 Edwin H Morris Co, ASCAP »Well it was in the spring one sunny day
When my woman left me and she went away
Oh but now she's gone I don't worry
Cause I'm sittin' up here on top of the world
Mississippi River is deep and wide
That woman I love love is on the other side
Oh but now she's gone gone but I don't worry none
Cause I'm sittin' sittin' on top of the world
Mississippi River is deep and wide...
[ guitar ] Well it was in the spring one sunny day...
[ banjo ] I'm sittin' on top of the world sittin' on top of the world
I don't worry I don't worry sittin' up here on top of the world
**********
3.
ARE YOU FROM DIXIE
(George L. Cobb - Jack Yellen) « © '57 Edwin H Morris Co, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »Well hello there neighbor how do you do
There's something I'd like to say to you
Now you're from my homeland my sunny homeland
Could it be yeah well alright
Are you from Dixie you're from Dixie
Well this old boy he's from Dixie too
Ha ha listen are you from Dixie I said from Dixie
Where all them fields of cotton Lord beckon to me
Well I say it's be nice to see you baby
And all the friends back home I long to see
Well if you're from Alabama Tennessee or Caroline
Anyplace below that Mason Dixon line
Then you're from Dixie hurray for Dixie
Cause this old boy he's from Dixie too
[ guitar ] Well if you're from Louisiana Mississippi Alabama Virginia Tennessee or Caroline
Anyplace below that Mason Dixon line
Then you're from Dixie hurray hurray for Dixie
Cause this old boy he's from Dixie too
Well if you're from Louisiana Mississippi Alabama...
**********
4.
ST. JAMES INFIRMARY
(Joe Primrose) « © '55 Mills Music, ASCAP »I went down to the St James Infirmary
I heard my baby moan
I felt so broken hearted
That woman used to be my own
So let her go let her go God bless her
Wherever she may be
She might search this whole wide world over
She ain't never gonna find a simple man like me
[ guitar - organ ] Now I went down to old Joe's barroom
It stands down on the square
They were drinkin' cold hard liquor
All the regular crowd was there
So let her go let her go God bless her...
Down in the St James Infirmary St James Infirmary
St James Infirmary and my baby's gone
In the St James Infirmary
**********
5.
BLUEGRASS (WITH GUTS)
(Jerry Reed Hubbard) « © '69 Vector Music, BMI / Sixteen Stars Music, BMI »[ instrumental ] **********
6.
BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY
(Bill Monroe) « © '46 Peer International, BMI / Bill Monroe Music, BMI »Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and proved untrue
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining...
It was on the moonlight night the stars were shining bright
It whispered from on high your love has said goodbye
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining...
[ guitar ] It was on the moonlight night...
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining...
**********
7.
WAYFARING STRANGER
(arr. Jerry Reed Hubbard) « © '69 Vector Music, BMI / Sixteen Stars Music, BMI »I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Travelling through this land of woe
But there'll be no sadness there'll be no sorrow
In this land to which I go
I'm going there going there to see my mama yes I am
I'm going there no more to roam
I'm just a going over Jordan
I'm just a going going over home
[ guitar - organ ] I'm going there to see my mama
I'm going there no more to roam
Oh yes I'm just going going over Jordan
I'm just a going going over home
I'm just a going I'm going over over home
**********
8.
IN THE PINES
(Alan Riggs) « © '56 Atlantic Music, BMI »Now the longest train I ever done seen
Was in those Georgia lines
Now that train came by at five o'clock
And the cab came by at nine
In the pines in the pines where the sun never shines
And they shiwered when the cold winds blow
In the pines in the pines where the sun never shines
And they shiwered when the cold winds blow
[ guitar ] Look down look down that lonesome road
Hang down your little head and cry
Little girl little girl what have I've done
That you should have passed me by
In the pines in the pines where the sun never shines
And they shiwered when the cold winds blow
Now the longest train I ever saw
Was in those Georgia lines
**********
9.
SWARMIN'
(Jerry Reed Hubbard) « © '69 Vector Music, BMI / Sixteen Stars Music, BMI »[ instrumental ] **********
10.
JOHN HARDY
(arr. Jerry Reed Hubbard) « © '69 Vector Music, BMI / Sixteen Stars Music, BMI »Now John Hardy was a desperate little man
Strapped on his guns every day
Shot down a man on the West Virginia line
You oughta see John Hardy get away
You oughta see John Hardy get away
He run up to Virginia around the east stone bridge
Thought he would surely be free
And along came a marshall with a gun in his hand
Said Johnny come along with me boy
The judge wants to see you boy come along with me
[ guitar ] Now John Hardy had himself a little woman
The dress she wore was blue
She hollered on out to Johnny as he rode out of town
Johnny I'll be true to you boy
Johnny I'll be true to you
Well his legend had traveled from the east to the west
From the north to the south end of town
But when the sun comes up tomorrow they'll take John Hardy down
And show him to his hanging ground
They're gonna let John Hardy swing down
[ banjo - guitar ] **********
11.
BARBARA ALLEN
(arr. Jerry Reed Hubbard) « © '69 Vector Music, BMI / Sixteen Stars Music, BMI »In Scarlet Town where I was born there was a fair maid dwelling
Made every youth cry well a day and her name was Barbara Allen
Twas in the merry month of May when green buds they were swelling
Sweet William upon his death bed lay for love of Barbara Allen
He sent a servant to the town to the place where she was dwelling
You must come to his his side if your name be Barbara Allen
Slowly slowly she got up slowly he went to nigh him
And when she pulled the curtain back said young man I think you're dying
Oh yes I'm sick I'm very sick and I will be no better
Until I have the love of one the love of Barbara Allen
Father father go dig my grave dig it deep deep and narrow
Sweet William died for me today I'll die for him tomorrow
They buried her in the old courtyard sweet William's grave was nigh her
And from his heart there grew a rose and from her heart grew briar
They grew and grew up the courtyard walls till they could grow no higher
Then grew as one to knot no more the red red rose and the briar
**********
12.
WORRIED MAN BLUES
(A.P. Carter) « © '59 Peer International, BMI »Well it takes a worried man to sing a worried song
It takes a worried man to sing a worried song
Well it takes a worried man to sing a worried song
I'm worried now but I won't be worried long
Well I went down to the river I lay down to sleep
I went down to the river to lay me down to sleep
Well I went down to the river I lay down to sleep
When I woke up there were shackles on my feet
So it takes a worried man to sing a worried song...
[ guitar ] This train I ride is twenty one coaches long
This train I ride is twenty one coaches long
This train I ride is twenty one coaches long
That woman I love she's on that train and gone
That why I'm a worried man to sing a worried song...
So it takes a worried man to sing a worried song...
**********
