Duane Eddy wasn't a surf guitarist but his sound, the echo and tone of his guitar, were hugely influential. There had been guitar instrumentals as long as there have been guitars but Eddy played his leads largely on the bass strings and that, combined with the echo, provided the "twang" that producer Lee Hazelwood dubbed his sound. (Hazelwood devised the echo chamber from an empty 2,000 gallon water tank.) This was a couple years before Leo Fender made the first reverb unit for Dick Dale. So, in regards to his influence on surf music, as one of his album titles says, "The 'Twangs' The 'Thang'"
Duane Eddy died last week. For me it's almost like losing a relative. [Personal story alert.] Hear me out. When I was about ten, my Uncle Mike had just returned home after an Air Force stint in Okinawa. When we went to visit him at my Grandma's he had this enormous sound system set up. He'd had bought it in Japan and had it shipped home. He asked my brothers and I if we wanted to hear it. At that young age our collective record collection consisted of three 45s. We'd only heard music from transistor and clock radios and a crappy portable record player. We did not know what we were in for. Uncle Mike proceeded to blast the Ventures' version of the "Hawaii Five-O" theme at a thousand decibels. There it began.
A while later we got a few hand me down LPs from Uncle Mike. The Ventures, Santo and Johnny and Duane Eddy. Having no LPs of our own, these ushered in the guitar mania that would dominate the next several decades of our listening habits. I know, I can hear it. You're saying "It's not all about you. How about some Duane Eddy background info?" Fine.
Duane Eddy - Moovin' n' Groovin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Duane Eddy - Rebel Rouser mp3 at Internet Archive
Duane Eddy - Stalkin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Duane Eddy - Ramrod mp3 at Internet Archive
3 comments:
It's not all about you, or your uncle. It's about my little sister turning into Duane Eddy.
https://youtu.be/FBV-UgXHm9A?si=uM8I2Q6ZnzxAUVDv
Tom, I am happy to see this post. I check in regularly and any subject/topic/person/band you choose is a rabbit hole feast for me on any given night. It is always unnerving when the days lengthen between your posts. Thank you for keeping this blog going and sharing your soul. Semper fi!
I found it.
I remarked about this elsewhere; but could not recall the specifics. It was likely a forum thread where the query was What 1950s rock 'n' rollers are still around? My remark was Duane Eddy is still around, and he's on the new Shemekia Copeland album [Uncivil War: 2020].
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