Jerry Reed Dead

Jerry Reed died recently at 71.

As an urban kid, I didn’t get much exposure to the rural, truck driving, country & western, red state types. I don’t know how close Mr. Jerry Reed was to that stereotypical rural white dude, but when I saw him on Smokey & the Bandit I thought we was cool as hell.

From the slick cryptic CB talk to the relaxed laid back style, he was like a diesel cowboy with all the right moves.
I saw Smokey & the Bandit in the 80s so for me it is immortalized. Jerry Reed is immortalized. Just to show my ignorance of the ‘other side of America’ I had NO idea that Jerry Reed was a country music singer before he turned into an actor.

Apparently, Reed starred in the 1998 Adam Sandler film, The Waterboy, as Red Beaulieu, the movie’s chief antagonist and the head coach for the University of Louisiana Cougars football team. I actually really liked that movie Waterboy, but didn’t realize that Reed was in the movie. For me he’ll always be Smokey, the diesel cowboy, running Interference for the Bandit to the title track, “East Bound and Down” (which he sang). Amazingly talented guy.

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