40 Fun Facts About Duane Eddy

What did Duane Eddy's producer buy to use as an echo chamber for the twangy guitar on his early hits?

A water storage tank holding 2,000 gallons did the job, because the Arizona studio where the records were cut had no echo chamber of its own.

Which Duane Eddy instrumental, his breakthrough hit of 1958, was later featured in the film Forrest Gump?

Rebel-'Rouser reached number six in America and sold over a million copies, earning Duane Eddy his first gold disc.

Which TV detective theme did Duane Eddy re-record with Art of Noise in 1986, winning a Grammy?

Peter Gunn had already been a hit for Duane Eddy a generation earlier, and the electronic remake took him back into the British top ten.

In 1960, readers of Britain's NME voted Duane Eddy the world's top musical personality, ousting which star?

Elvis Presley lost the top spot in a British music paper's poll, a sign of how much better Duane Eddy's records did in the UK than at home.

Which producer of Duane Eddy's early hits went on to write Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"?

Lee Hazlewood co-wrote many of the guitarist's instrumentals, then became a star in his own right through his 1960s duets with Nancy Sinatra.

Duane Eddy's twangy lead style inspired some of the guitar playing on which 1975 Bruce Springsteen hit?

Born to Run became Bruce Springsteen's first Top 40 single in America, and its writer is one of many rock stars who have acknowledged the older guitarist's influence.

Unhappy with his singing voice, Duane Eddy built his sound by playing lead melodies where on the guitar?

On the bass strings, his melodies came out low and reverberant, the sound listeners soon knew as twang.

Which British guitarist, who named Duane Eddy as an influence, played on Eddy's 1987 album alongside John Fogerty?

George Harrison was one of a crowd of famous guests on the 1987 album, which also reunited the American with two players from his original backing band.

Which country singer, later the wife of Waylon Jennings, was married to Duane Eddy from 1961 to 1968?

Jessi Colter was still recording under her real name, Mirriam Johnson, during the marriage; the stage name came later.

Duane Eddy was the last surviving musician from the top ten of the first-ever issue of which chart?

The Billboard Hot 100 first appeared in 1958, the year the guitarist's breakthrough single climbed to number six in America.

Which guitar maker built the Chet Atkins model 6120 that Duane Eddy bought as a teenager in 1957?

Gretsch won him over with its vibrato arm, so the 19-year-old traded in his old guitar; 40 years later the firm launched a Duane Eddy signature model.

Which TV host starred as a high-school teacher in the 1960 film that gave Duane Eddy his biggest hit?

Dick Clark was already a champion of the guitarist, who made many appearances on the host's own network show.

Which 1960 teen drama's title theme, recorded with a string arrangement, became Duane Eddy's biggest hit?

Because They're Young reached number four in America and number two in Britain, becoming the guitarist's second million-selling single.

In 1965, Duane Eddy released an album of twangy instrumental versions of which songwriter's songs?

Bob Dylan's name went straight into the blunt title, Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan, which came out on the Colpix label.

Which instrument, played in Duane Eddy's band by Steve Douglas and later Jim Horn, answered his guitar on the hits?

Saxophone breaks were a fixture of the records; Jim Horn replaced Steve Douglas in 1959 and stayed on the road with the guitarist for five years.

Duane Eddy recorded the theme of which TV western, also acting in it beside its star, Richard Boone?

Have Gun – Will Travel starred Boone as the hired gunfighter Paladin, and the 1962 single of its ballad took the guitarist into the UK top ten.

In 2024, Duane Eddy joined dozens of guitarists on a charity re-recording of whose film theme "Going Home"?

Mark Knopfler's all-star version raised money for two teenage cancer charities and reached the top 20 of the British singles chart.

At which English festival did Duane Eddy perform in June 2011, the month his album Road Trip came out?

Glastonbury capped a late British revival that began with a sold-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall the previous autumn.

Duane Eddy sidemen Steve Douglas, Jim Horn and Larry Knechtel all joined which famed Los Angeles session group?

The Wrecking Crew played on a long run of 1960s pop hits, with Knechtel going on to work for Simon & Garfunkel, the Doors and the Byrds.

Duane Eddy was born in which New York city, best known as the home of a famous glassworks?

Corning gave way to the desert in 1951, when his family moved to Arizona, the state where his recording career began.

Which guitar company introduced the Duane Eddy signature models DE-400 and DE-500 in the early 1960s?

Guild is credited with making him the first rock and roll guitarist to have a signature model, decades before two other makers built guitars in his name.

In which Arizona city did Duane Eddy record his early hits at the Audio Recorders studio?

Phoenix drew him from Coolidge, the small Arizona town where, at a local radio station, he had met the disc jockey who became his producer.

Which composer wrote the TV private-eye theme that gave Duane Eddy a UK top-ten hit in 1959?

Henry Mancini built the theme on one relentless riff, and the pianist on his original recording was John Williams, later a famous film composer himself.

Duane Eddy's track "The Trembler", used in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, was co-written with which musician?

Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar master, shares the writing credit with the twang guitarist on a piece that reached a new audience through the 1994 film.

Which film composer brought in Duane Eddy to play the guitar riff on John Woo's 1996 thriller Broken Arrow?

Hans Zimmer said he had always thought Ennio Morricone wanted to work with the twang guitarist, so he simply hired the real one for the whole scoring session.

Duane Eddy played lead guitar on "Until the End of Time", a 1995 adult contemporary hit for which rock band?

Foreigner reached the top ten of the American adult contemporary chart with the ballad, one of several 1990s sessions for the veteran guitarist.

Duane Eddy played his signature twangy lead guitar on "Rock and Roll Lullaby", a 1972 hit for which singer?

B. J. Thomas and his producer wanted the famous sounds of early rock on the single, so they also added harmonies in the style of the Beach Boys.

Which girl group, featuring Darlene Love, sang on Duane Eddy's 1962 million-seller "(Dance with the) Guitar Man"?

The Blossoms were billed on the label as the Rebelettes, and the single earned the guitarist his third gold disc.

Duane Eddy's 1975 UK top-ten hit was co-written by Keith Potger, a founder of which Australian group?

The Seekers' co-founder wrote Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar with hitmaker Tony Macaulay, and a female vocal group sang on the single.

Which surf instrumental did Duane Eddy record as a duet with the Shadows' Hank Marvin in 1992?

Pipeline was a 1963 hit for the Chantays, and the two-guitar remake appeared on Marvin's album Into the Light.

Duane Eddy was nominated seven times before which institution finally inducted him in 1994?

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame admitted him alongside Elton John and Bob Marley, 36 years after his twangy guitar first reached the charts.

Whose 1979 instrumental "Rockestra Theme" did Duane Eddy cover on a 1987 album that its composer helped produce?

Paul McCartney first released the piece with Wings on the album Back to the Egg, and he produced some of the 1987 tracks himself.

The opening riff of Duane Eddy's first chart single, "Movin' n' Groovin'", was later echoed on which Beach Boys hit?

Surfin' U.S.A. opens with a lick that the guitarist had himself borrowed from a Chuck Berry record, Brown Eyed Handsome Man.

Which 1959 Duane Eddy single, lasting 1 minute 17 seconds, set a record as the shortest hit in the US Top 40?

Some Kind-a Earthquake was over almost as soon as it began, yet it climbed even higher in Britain, reaching number 12.

Duane Eddy's early hits came out on Jamie Records, a label founded in 1956 in which East Coast city?

Philadelphia's Jamie label, named after a co-founder's daughter, leased the tapes that were being recorded for it far away in the Arizona desert.

Which English singer-songwriter, once a touring member of Pulp, produced Duane Eddy's 2011 album Road Trip?

Richard Hawley made the record in his home city of Sheffield and co-wrote four of its tunes, and Mojo ranked it among the top 50 albums of the year.

What title did Nashville's mayor bestow on Duane Eddy at the Ryman Auditorium in 2000?

Titan of Twang was conferred by Mayor Bill Purcell at a concert celebrating his career, where John Fogerty and Peter Frampton made appearances.

Duane Eddy joined the Mavericks and which rockabilly pioneer to record "Matchbox" for a 1994 AIDS benefit album?

Carl Perkins had written the song and first cut it at Sun Records in the 1950s; the remake appeared on the charity album Red Hot + Country.

Lester Sill, who co-produced Duane Eddy's early hits, went on to co-found the Philles label with which producer?

Phil Spector and Sill named the label by joining their first names, and it soon had hits with the Crystals and the Ronettes.

Duane Eddy was the second winner of Guitar Player magazine's Legend Award in 2004; which guitar pioneer was first?

Les Paul was the only honoree before him, fitting company for a man whose own name appeared on guitars from three different makers.