We lost Jerry Reed not too long ago. It makes me very depressed because I thought he was an extremely talented individual who for some reason always seemed to put the amount of money he would make, ahead of the quality of product he would produce, which resulted in some records being not nearly as good as some others, and some movies also being not as good as others. Anyhow, Jerry Reed Hubbard started his recording career way back in 1957, and it continued all the way until earlier this year, when the effects of emphysema were taking their toll. Along the way, he recorded with a King, acted with a Bandit, and managed to be married to the same person for 49 years, a rarety for anyone these days, let alone someone in showbusiness. I have no idea if Jerry smoked, or just performed regularly in smoke filled bars or whatnot, but whatever the case, the end result is so tragic because it could probably have been avoided entirely. I remember hearing about his massive heart attack in the late 90's that almost took his life, and the multiple bypass operation he had to have done afterwards, that ultimately had saved his life. At the time, i had wondered why he was in such bad shape for being such a young guy, and now I find myself asking the same question. Why? I'm personally a strong advocate against public smoking (if you want to do it, do it somewhere where people won't be breathing it in regularly), and I can't help but wonder if he would still be alive if there weren't people smoking in the various places he's performed over the last 5 decades. Unfortunately, what's done is done, and all that we have left is his massive body of work in relation to both singing and acting, good and bad. Today I bring you a 1958 record by Jerry that seems rather funny, since it has a slight hint of truth to it. Here's Jerry Reed doing the song Your Money Makes You Purty.
