Duane Eddy is 79 today

Rebel Rouser on a Guild!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS_hFfucAAs

walrus

Some of the first tunes I learned were Duane Eddy songs - Rebel Rouser, 40 Miles of bad Road, etc. Ramrod was my fave. Interestingly, he played both a Guild and a Gretsch, and sometimes a Danelectro. Rumor has it, despite his somewhat basic recordings, he is a pretty good guitarist. He was once quoted as saying he' keeps it simple for the kids'.

In the mid 80's I was at the NAMM show in Anaheim. As a life long lover of Guild guitars I headed straight to the Guild booth. That year it was located in somewhat of a connecting hall between two really large halls. Along with all of the guitars on display I noticed a guy with a hat and beard in conversation with a rep. She referred to him as Duane and sure enough it was Duane Eddy. This was the year that Guild reissued the Duane Eddy guitar but still a bit before his soon to be resurgence. Remarkably it was just the rep, Mr. Eddy and I standing around and he and I struck up a conversation. We talked guitars and music and the new reissue. He mentioned that Guild had refinished his original guitar then asked if I wanted to play it. I was dumb struck but must have managed some sort of ascent because the next thing I knew he handed me his guitar. Pull 'G' to an open 'E' on the 6th string. He just smiled.
Duane Eddy was the hero of my young guitar life. He was the first player I ever heard play blues. (3:30 Blues). He let me know that I didn't have to sing. (Damn good thing that.). He set me on a life long quest for tone which has cost me unknown thousands of dollars. And on the day I met him, he was a really gracious guy who lived up to the 'hero' status I had ascribed to him in my youth. Happy Birthday Mr. Eddy.