Jerry ReedThe Rockin' U.S. Male

Listen to the fingers first. Reed's syncopated claw picking, learned off Merle Travis and Earl Scruggs, gives these 1955-58 sides a rhythmic snap that leaves plain rockabilly behind. Honky-tonk twang, fifties pop, and oddball curios like the strutting 'Rockin' in Bagdad' all crackle with a kid who can't sit still on the strings. Capitol signed him at eighteen, and you can already hear the guitar legend warming up. He shrugged these off later. Don't. They're a blast.