West German promotion card by RCA Schallplatten. Photo: Teldec / RCA.
On 30 April 2024, American guitarist Duane Eddy died of cancer at the age of 86. He had instrumental hits like 'Rebel Rouser', 'Peter Gunn', 'Cannonball' and 'Forty Miles of Bad Road'. He was called 'King of Twang', because of the distinctive reverb of his guitar. With his twangy way of playing, he brought a new sound to rock and roll and inspired generations of colleagues, from George Harrison and The Shadows to Bruce Springsteen. His music can be heard in films like Natural Born Killers (1994), Forrest Gump (1994) and Broken Arrow (1996).
Duane Jerome Eddy was born in 1938 in Corning, New York, USA. Eddy started playing guitar as a 5-year-old toddler. Inspired by singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rodgers, it was not long before he was allowed to perform for local radio stations. At 16, he formed a duo with his friend Jimmy Delbridge. While performing at local radio station KCKY, they met disc jockey Lee Hazlewood, who produced the duo's single, 'Soda Fountain Girl', recorded and released in 1955 in Phoenix, Arizona. At 19, Eddy had a modest hit with 'Moovin' and Groovin''. It reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1958. Even that early sample revealed the twangy playing style he liked sounding best: loose languid notes on the low strings with lots of resonance. In 1958, Eddy signed a record contract with Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood to record in Phoenix at the Audio Recorders studio. Sill and Hazlewood leased the tapes of all the singles and albums to the Philadelphia-based Jamie Records. Eddy had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically 'twangy' sound, including 'Rebel-'Rouser', 'Peter Gunn', and 'Because They're Young'. He also proved an immediate influence: his producer later used the sounds for Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin''. California surf bands also picked up the sound: the Beach Boys adopted his opening riff for 'Surfin' USA'. Incidentally, Eddy had again borrowed the opening of 'Moovin' and Groovin'' from Chuck Berry. The follow-up, 'Rebel-'Rouser', featured an overdubbed saxophone by musician Gil Bernal, and yells and handclaps by doo-wop group the Rivingtons. The tune became Eddy's breakthrough hit, reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold over one million copies, earning Eddy his first gold disc. Eddy had 16 Top 40 hits in the US between 1958 and 1963, although a Number 1 listing failed to materialise. He had sold 12 million records by 1963. He also acted in a few films like the Westerns A Thunder of Drums (Joseph M. Newman, 1961) with Richard Boone and George Hamilton, The Wild Westerners (Oscar Rudolph, 1962) and the AIP action film The Savage Seven (Richard Rush, 1968).
After 1963, Duane Eddy and other American artists were supplanted by the British Invasion. In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked mostly behind the scenes, tapping into his royalties. He was a producer for Waylon Jennings, Phil Everly and BJ Thomas. How beloved he remained among musicians was evident in 1987, when his new album was produced by Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Ry Cooder, with contributions from George Harrison and John Fogerty. One of the songs from that album, 'The Trembler', was used in Oliver Stone's film Natural Born Killers (1994). The same year, Rebel Rouser was used for the film Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) starring Tom Hanks, where the rousing tune sounds when the protagonist is chased by bullies in a pick-up truck. He appeared as himself in the documentary film Love and Other Stunts (Joe O'Connell, 2018). Even the game industry knew how to appreciate him: in 2018, Eddy collaborated on the soundtrack of the Wild West game 'Red Dead Redemption II'. Eddy once analysed that he owed it all to his childhood choice of style: "I'm certainly not the best player technically, I just sell the best," he admitted. "I chose a signature sound and stuck to that." He was married to Carol Fowler (?-1961), Jessi Colter (1962-1968), Maureen A Power (1971-1979) and Diane Mary 'Deed' Abbate (1979-2024; his death). Duane Eddy died on 30 April 2024 in Franklin, Tennessee, USA. Eddy can rightly be called the most important rock 'n' roll instrumentalist ever. "Not singing was my main contribution to the music industry," he once jokingly summed up his influence.
Sources: NOS (Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.
