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Duane Eddy Dies: Influential ‘Rebel Rouser’ & ‘Peter Gunn’ Guitarist Was 86
Deadline ^ | May 1, 2024 | Erik Pedersen

Posted on 05/01/2024 10:37:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Duane Eddy, the twangy, Grammy-winning rock guitarist who had Top 10 instrumental hits including “Rebel Rouser” and “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and scored with a version of Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn,” died Wednesday of cancer at a hospital in Franklin, TN, his wife Deed Abbate told The Associated Press. He had turned 86 last week.

Eddy, who influenced generations of guitar legends including George Harrison, John Fogerty, Bruce Springsteen, Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler and The Ventures’ Don Wilson, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Born on April 26, 1938, in Corning, NY, Eddy began playing guitar at age 5. He moved at 13 with his family to Arizona, where he met local DJ Lee Hazlewood, and the two would share a long, fruitful association. Eddy first recorded with Jimmy Delbridge as Duane & Jimmy in 1955, and his debut single as a solo act to dent the charts came three years later with “Moovin’ N’ Groovin’.”

His next hit, featuring Eddy’s signature late-’50s Chet Atkins Gretsch 6120, would change the game.

“Rebel Rouser,” which Eddy co-wrote with Hazlewood, was prime twang — played low with plenty of reverb and instantly recognizable. Billed on the label as “Rebel-‘Rouser,” the song hit the Hot 100 just as Jody Reynolds’ reverb-drenched “Endless Sleep” was in the Top 5. That track featured guitar work from Al Casey, who played piano on “Rebel Rouser” and was part of Eddy’s backing band The Rebels.

Eddy often was backed by The Rebels during his career heyday, when instrumentals flooded the pop charts. Several of the group’s members including Larry Knechtel, Jim Horn and Steve Douglas went on to become part of legendary Los Angeles session collective The Wrecking Crew.

Providing “rebel yell”-like whoops and handclaps on “Rebel Rouser” were members of The Sharps, who would go on to have a memorable, if minor, 1962 hit with “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” as The Rivingtons. The Trashmen famously incorporated that song into the hook of their hit “Surfin’ Bird” the following year.

Eddy would follow “Rebel Rouser” with two dozen more chart singles through 1963, most notably “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and another U.S. Top 10 record, “Because They’re Young,” the title tune from the 1960 film starring American Bandstand host Dick Clark.

Creedence frontman Fogerty, who was famous for his swampy guitar sound and had lobbied hard to get Eddy into the Rock Hall, once called him, “The front guy — the first rock ‘n’ roll guitar god.”

Watch Eddy perform “Rebel Rouser” at the 2013 Americana Awards here:

Eddy had more chart success in the UK, where 10 of his singles went Top 10, with “Because They’re Young” reaching No. 2 and “Shazam!” — another track from the movie — hitting No. 4. Also among his Brit hits was “Peter Gunn,” the TV show theme song whose riff would influence guitar rock going forward.

He won a Best Rock Instrumental Grammy for his six-string contributions to Art of Noise’s wild 1986 cover of “Peter Gunn.” Eddy also scored a 1992 Grammy nom for Best Rock Instrumental for his work on Doc Watson track “Thunder Road/Sugarfoot Rag.”

Eddy was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008. Here’s a clip of him playing “Peter Gunn” at his induction ceremony:

Five of Eddy’s albums also made the UK Top 10 as he influenced the legion of young British guitarists who would dominate the latter half of the 1960s. His debut LP in the States, Have ‘Twangy’ Guitar – Will Travel, reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200, but subsequent albums missed the Top 10. His 1960 compilation set $1,000,000.00 Worth of Twang, reached No. 11 stateside. A box set, Twang Thang: The Duane Eddy Anthology, was released in 1993.

“I had a distinctive sound that people could recognize, and I stuck pretty much with that. I’m not one of the best technical players by any means; I just sell the best,” he told the Associated Press in a 1986 interview. “A lot of guys are more skillful than I am with the guitar. A lot of it is over my head. But some of it is not what I want to hear out of the guitar.”

Eddy recorded only sporadically after 1960s. He was featured on a couple of tracks on The Ventures’ 2002 album Twangin’ Guitar. The iconic instrumental guitar group had covered some of his songs including “Rebel Rouser” during its heyday.

With his matinee-idol good looks, Eddy also appeared in several 1960s movies, including A Thunder of Drums, The Wild Westerners and The Savage Seven, along with Because They’re Young.

Along with his wife, Eddy is survived by four children, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Here’s a clip of him talking with that Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum founder and CEO Joe Chambers in 2019 about how a mistake helped make “Rebel Rouser” a hit.


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: duaneeddy; eddy; music; obituary; rockandorroll
Duane Eddy - Rebel-rouser
1 posted on 05/01/2024 10:37:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Rest In Peace, Duane.


2 posted on 05/01/2024 10:39:40 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: nickcarraway

RIP.

3 posted on 05/01/2024 10:41:46 PM PDT by Songcraft ( )
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To: All

"Ghost Riders In The Sky" - Duane Eddy

4 posted on 05/01/2024 10:46:43 PM PDT by Songcraft ( )
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To: nickcarraway
"Rebel Rouser" was probably inspired by the movie "Rebel Without a Cause." Other tunes inspired by this film include Rebel by Carol Jarvis and Without a Cause by the Heaertbreakers, both from 1957.
5 posted on 05/01/2024 10:47:02 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: nickcarraway

Aw man...I loved Duane Eddy.


6 posted on 05/01/2024 10:49:03 PM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: nickcarraway

7 posted on 05/01/2024 10:56:48 PM PDT by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: nickcarraway

Thanks for posting.


8 posted on 05/01/2024 11:03:52 PM PDT by TexasKamaAina (The time is out of joint. - Hamlet)
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To: TexasKamaAina

YW


9 posted on 05/01/2024 11:10:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

R.I.P. I very much enjoyed his music as a youngster.


10 posted on 05/01/2024 11:32:08 PM PDT by Enterprise
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To: nickcarraway
FYI...

Richard Tandy, founding member of and keyboardist for Electric Light Orchestra died today at age 76.

-PJ

11 posted on 05/02/2024 12:05:03 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: nickcarraway

Big, REALLY BIG time popular when I was in high school/college! His songs really got things moving! “Peter Gunn” and Henry Mancini were significant too. Sad to hear and another memory of when America was still America in the Golden Years of the 50’s. RIP Mr. Eddy, you did good.


12 posted on 05/02/2024 1:42:39 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Songcraft

Fun Fact: “Ghost Riders In The Sky” was the foundation of the Doors’ “Riders On The Storm”


13 posted on 05/02/2024 1:59:49 AM PDT by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: newfreep

Fun Fact #2. Duane Eddy married Jesse Coulter first before she married Waylon Jennings. Eddy kept a friendly relationship with the both of them.


14 posted on 05/02/2024 3:52:25 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: nickcarraway

Mr. Eddy was born in Corning, NY.

Not a thing about Eddy or his passing on the local rag’s website.

Not a peep.

But some nice coverage here...

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/corning/2024/05/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-member-and-upstate-ny-native-duane-eddy-dies.html


15 posted on 05/02/2024 4:05:46 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: nickcarraway

Sorry to hear this. Duane was a musical influence on me.


16 posted on 05/02/2024 4:13:48 AM PDT by sauropod ("This is a time when people reveal themselves for who they are." James O'Keefe Ne supra crepidam)
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To: nickcarraway

From the movie of the same name. Not a bad David Janssen flick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aERm-3PwKvo
Ring of Fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEoH-ATVWUA
Ring of Fire (Soundtrack)


17 posted on 05/02/2024 4:22:26 AM PDT by abb
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To: nickcarraway

Duane Eddy Boss Guitar CD 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alq2pTyujv8


18 posted on 05/02/2024 5:13:25 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

Rebel Rouser. I often wondered how a song title could be given to music with no lyrics. This one had a da da da in the background. Allman Brothers Jessica was another.


19 posted on 05/02/2024 7:19:17 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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