“You hear two notes and you know who it is. What a unique thing he created. Without singing a note in his entire life – what a voice”: The life, times and twangin’ tones of rock ’n’ roll pioneer Duane Eddy

Duane Eddy onstage in London with a Gretsch Country Gentleman, 2012.

Second only to writing the perfect song, it is perhaps the ultimate goal of any guitarist to forge a sound that is theirs alone. Duane Eddy, who died of cancer in April at the age of 86, certainly accomplished that.

And while the tag given to his methodology – ‘twang’ – had lightweight and frivolous connotations, the sound itself was anything but. “It’s a silly name,” the guitarist once said, “for a non‑silly thing.”