Duane Eddy, twangy guitar hero of early rock, dead at age 86

FILE – Duane Eddy performs on the third day of the 2014 Stagecoach Music Festival at the Empire Polo Field, April 27, 2014, in Indio, Calif. Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser” and “Peter Gunn” helped put the twang in early rock ‘n’ roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, died of cancer Tuesday, April 30, 2024. He was 86. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser,” “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and “Cannonball” helped put the twang in early rock ‘n’ roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, has died at age 86. 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.


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