Re-Post: Jimmy Reed for Gypsy Rose Wine

Jimmy Reed in a very shiny suit.

One sided radio spot.

Jimmy Reed, before the toupee.

And a cool Supro Airline model guitar.

Notice the finger pick.

Since the link for this one came down back in October, I thought I'd repost it, along with some snazzy photos I've just uncovered. The radio spot is from the early 70's, Jimmy Reed doing an ad for Gypsy Rose Wine. The Gypsy Rose Wine (a fortified wine like MD 20/20, Night Train and Thunderbird) folks really understood their market. I remember hearing it at night on Butterball's show on WMBM out of Miami (where I first heard Slim Harpo, and just about every great R&B record of the era with a transistor radio pressed to my ear under the covers), and also on WLAC out of Nashville when the weather was really bad and the signal traveled all the way down the coast to Florida where I grew up. Jimmy gets some help from his son Jimmy Reed Jr. aka Boonie. For my money, Jimmy Reed was just about the greatest thing there ever was. He was more of a rock'n'roll, or in his own words--a pop singer than a bluesman, but what ever you call his music, he was as close to a genius as a moron can get. If you don't have all of Jimmy Reed's Vee Jay recordings, you really need to reassess your priorities in life.