DUANE EDDY, WHO died April 30 at age 86, was the first rock ’n’ roll guitar hero. His unique twangy guitar lines were among the most truly distinctive sounds in the history of rock guitar; whenever producers wanted that unique vibe on a record, they’d only have to ask for a Duane Eddy-style guitar part, and everyone would instantly know what was required. Unlike anything that had come before him, Eddy — with his echo-drenched, deep-bass driven melodies — managed to encapsulate the essence of the new age of rock ’n’ roll that was taking over the world in the Fifties.
Born April 26, 1938, in Corning, New York, Eddy picked up the guitar at age five and moved to Arizona with his family in his early teens; when he was 16, he started to play in local bars, where he met Lee Hazlewood, the singer, songwriter and producer who would go on to co-write and produce the majority of Eddy’s hits. Hazlewood had heard
