Nancy Sinatra wrote: “Duane Eddy and I were friends for nearly 60 years and I am heartbroken over his passing… Farewell, old friend, godspeed and stay cool.”
For Duane Eddy 🎸yesterday in my studio I said this riff needs to sound like Duane Eddy! As I picked up my Gretsch white falcon guitar! Saddened of the passing of this understated man who had talents more than most knew. Grateful for learning to play drums listening to his music. pic.twitter.com/I3vRjFCUpR
— Mick Fleetwood (@MickFleetwood) May 1, 2024
Eddy died of cancer Tuesday at the Williamson Health hospital in Franklin, Tennessee, according to his wife, Deed Abbate. (NBCsandiego report.)
With his raucous rhythms, and backing hollers and hand claps, Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar's bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones.
"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."
"Twang" defined Eddy's sound from his first album, "Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel," to his 1993 box set, "Twang Thang: The Duane Eddy Anthology."
"It's a silly name for a nonsilly thing," Eddy told the AP in 1993. "But it has haunted me for 35 years now, so it's almost like sentimental value — if nothing else."
