Duane Eddy, a pioneer of rock guitar famous for his twanging sound, and iconic, era-defining instrumentals like Rebel Rouser, has died at 86, the Arizona Republic reports. Eddy passed away at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, surrounded by family members.
Hugely influential to generations of rock guitar players, Eddy helped define an era, and establish the electric guitar as an instrument with a voice all its own.
Born in Corning, New York in 1938, Eddy took up the guitar at a young age. Shortly after his family’s move to Arizona in 1951, Eddy met a popular local DJ who would play a critical role in his career, Lee Hazlewood.
In high school, Eddy formed a country duo, Jimmy & Duane, with a classmate. Chet Atkins was a particular influence on Eddy, which led to the latter purchasing Atkins’ Gretsch signature model at the age of 19. Eddy would be synonymous with the company for the rest of his life.
At Hazlewood’s urging, Eddy decided to write an instrumental tune (Hazlewood himself was influenced by the success of the hit instrumental, Raunchy). The result was 1957’s Moovin’ and Groovin’, a minor hit that showcased Eddy’s low-end-heavy riff-writing ability.
The following year, Eddy crafted the tune that would become his calling card, Rebel Rouser.
Aided by Audio Recorders studio’s makeshift echo chamber (a 2,000-gallon water tank stationed in the studio’s parking lot) and an unforgettable sax solo by Gil Bernal, Rebel Rouser fit the times like a glove.
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Released the same year as Link Wray’s similarly influential instrumental, Rumble, Rebel Rouser lived up to its name – capturing the nascent rock genre’s rebellious attitude, and showing that the electric guitar was more capable of speaking for itself, melodically.
Rebel Rouser, Moovin’ and Groovin’, and other tunes that showcased Eddy’s trademark tone, were grouped together in his 1958 debut album, the hugely successful Have ‘Twangy’ Guitar Will Travel.
Over the next five years, Eddy had an astounding run of commercial success, with 16 top 40 hits. By the mid-1960s, though, the guitarist’s commercial success had waned in the face of the post-Beatles explosion, which itself was fueled by many guitarists Eddy had influenced.
Still, Eddy remained a stylistic touchstone for multiple generations of guitar players. A testament to the breadth of his influence came in the mid-’80s, when he collaborated with the synth-pop band Art of Noise on a re-working of the Peter Gunn theme (which Eddy had initially recorded in 1960). The recording would go on to become yet another hit for Eddy.
In 1987, the guitarist released a self-titled LP that featured – to name just a few guests – John Fogerty, Steve Cropper, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ry Cooder.
Eddy remained an active performer well into his ’80s, and was kept in the limelight by many of the 21st century guitar heroes who looked up to him.
The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach enlisted Eddy to play on his 2017 solo album, Waiting on a Song, describing his contributions as “magic.”
Modern-day blues guitar titan Joe Bonamassa cited Eddy as “one of the most successful instrumentalists in rock history.”
“When you get right down to it, I guess I really was the first rock ’n’ roll guitar star, and it really kicked off the guitar instrumental phenomenon,” Eddy told Guitar World in a 2011 interview. “I didn’t know I was going to do all that. I just wanted a hit record, I just wanted to make a living!”
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