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 in Franklin, TN, The Arizona Republic reported. He had turned 86 on last week.
Eddy, who influenced generations of guitar legends including George Harrison, John Fogerty, Bruce Springsteen and Mark Knopfler, 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 first single as a solo act to dent the charts came three years later with “Moovin’ N’ Groovin’.”
His next hit would change the game.
“Rebel Rouser,” which Eddy co-wrote with Hazlewood, was prime twang — played low with plenty of reverb and instantly recognizable. (It was billed on the label as “Rebel-‘Rouser.) He would follow 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.
He had more chart success in the UK, where 10 of his singles went Top 10. Among those 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 song. Eddy also scored a 1992 Grammy nom for Best Rock Instrumental for his work on Doc Watson track “Thunder Road/Sugarfoot Rag.”
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.”
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