*(1973) RCA ''Talk About The Good Times'' (Take 4 Overdubbed Master) Elvis Presley

''Talk About The Good Times'' (CPA5-1628)
Recorded Friday/Saturday December 14, 15, 1973 (9:00 PM - 12:00 AM) (1:00 AM - 3:00 AM)
Master Overdubs January 2, 1974, RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee

Name (Or. No. of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocals
James Burton - Lead Guitar
Charlie Hodge - Guitar
Johnny Christopher - Guitar
David Briggs - Piano & Organ
Norbert Putnam - Bass
Ronnie Tutt - Drums

J.D. Sumner & The Stamps consisting of Bill Baize, Ed Enoch, Dave Rowland - Backup Vocals
Voice consisting of Donnie Sumner, Sherrill Nielsen, Tim Baty, Per Eric ''Pete'' Hallin - Backup Vocals
Mary Holladay, Susan Pilkingson, Kathy Westmoreland, Mary ''Jeanie'' Green - Backup Vocals

''Talk About The Good Times'' written by Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 - September 1, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included "Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", "A Thing Called Love", "Alabama Wild Man", "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot" (which garnered a Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male), "Ko-Ko Joe", "Lord, Mr. Ford", "East Bound And Down" (the theme song for the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit, in which Reed co-starred), "The Bird", and "She Got The Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)".

Reed was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Reed was announced as an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in April 2017; he was officially inducted by Bobby Bare on October 24.

In July 1967, Reed had his best showing on the country chart (number 53) with his self-penned "Guitar Man", which Elvis Presley soon covered. Reed's next single was "Tupelo Mississippi Flash", a comic tribute to Presley. Recorded on September 1, the song became his first Top 20 hit, going to number 15 on the chart. Coincidentally Presley came to Nashville to record nine days later on September 10, 1967, and one of the songs he became especially excited about was "Guitar Man".

Reed recalled how he was tracked down to play on the Presley session: "I was out on the Cumberland River fishing, and I got a call from Felton Jarvis (then Presley's producer at RCA Victor) He said, 'Elvis is down here. We've been trying to cut "Guitar Man" all day long. He wants it to sound like it sounded on your album.' I finally told him, 'Well, if you want it to sound like that, you're going have to get me in there to play guitar, because these guys you're using in the studio are straight pickers. I pick with my fingers and tune that guitar up all weird kind of ways'''.

Jarvis hired Reed to play on the session. "I hit that intro, and Elvis's face lit up and here we went. Then after he got through that, he cut my "U.S. Male" at the same session. I was toppin' cotton, son." Reed also played the guitar for Elvis Presley's "Big Boss Man" (1967), recorded in the same session.

On January 15 and 16, 1968, Reed worked on a second Presley session, during which he played guitar on a cover of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business", "Stay Away", and "Goin' Home" (two songs revolving around Presley's film Stay Away, Joe), as well as another Reed composition, "U.S. Male" (Reed's quoted recollection of "U.S. Male" being recorded at the same session as "Guitar Man" being incorrect).

Elvis Presley also recorded two other Reed compositions: "A Thing Called Love" in May 1971 for his ''He Touched Me'' album, and "Talk About The Good Times" in December 1973, for a total of four. Johnny Cash also released "A Thing Called Love" as a single in 1971. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart for North America and was also successful in Europe. It became the title track for a studio album that he released the following spring.

Reed married country singer Priscilla Mitchell on July 9, 1959; they had two daughters (Seidina Ann Hubbard, born April 2, 1960, and Charlotte Elaine (Lottie) Zavala, born October 19, 1970) who also became country singers.

Reed died in Nashville on September 1, 2008, of complications from emphysema at the age of 71. A week later during their debut at the Grand Ole Opry, Canadian country rock group The Road Hammers performed "East Bound and Down" as a tribute. In a tribute in Vintage Guitar Magazine, Rich Kienzle wrote that "Reed set a standard that inspires fingerstyle players the way Merle and Chet inspired him." He was survived by Mitchell and their two daughters. Mitchell died following a short illness on September 24, 2014, at the age of 73.

Reed was a heavy smoker for many years. Thom Bresh, son of Merle Travis and a close friend of Reed's, produced a 1990s video with Reed acting out his desire to quit smoking the addictive cigarettes ("Jerry Reed - Another Puff", which was his first 1972 released single) that serves as a public service video from Reed on the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

* - Digitally Remastered

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