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During the years of the schism that divided rock music between savage rebels and television stars, Duane Eddy found an original third way that opened new horizons for rock and roll: the instrumental one. Both pop and country music had an instrumental sub genre, and Eddy, not without reason, created something analogous for rock music by combining pop and country. The result was far superior than the mere sum of the two parts, since the rock and roll atmosphere took over both rhythm and melody.

Duane Eddy was a native of Phoenix, Arizona, where he had learned to play the guitar like Les Paul and Chet Atkins. Producer Lee Hazelwood discovered his staccato riffs, renamed them "twang" and dressed them with arrangements, which, though slightly kitsch, were simple but effectual: modest bass phrases taken from jazz, an exuberant sax in the tradition of rhythm and blues, background vocals reminiscent of a barbaric version of doo-wop, and the tottering rhythm of country music. But most of all, Hazelwood gave an aura of elegance and refinement to Eddy's solos, treating them as if they were chamber music pieces.

His songs, simple melodies supported by Eddy's romantic vibrato, gained immediate fame: first Movin' And Groovin' (the first single) and Rebel Rouser (an adaptation of When The Saints Go Marching In, with war cries and hand clapping), then, in 1958, Cannonball (with snapping fingers), and Ramrod (a rowdy rhythm and blues). In 1959 the sentimental epic Forty Miles Of Bad Road, set the more or less monotonous standard by which the guitarist was to abide for the remainder of his career.

His material was borrowed from fifty years of blues (Moovin' N' Groovin'), country (Loads Kinda Earthquake and Cripple Creek), spiritual (Battle), ragtime (Bonnie Came Back) and marching bands (Dixie) , and then processed through Hazlewood's eccentric arrangements, that anticipated those of Morricone. His band, the Rebels, was one of the best of the time: Al Casey at the guitar, Larry Knechtel at the piano and Steve Douglas at the saxophone. Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel (Jamie, 1958) also includes Detour, Three Thirty Blues and The Stalker.

Because They Are Young (1960), a small rock symphony with more prominent riffs and a string section sealed the golden era, although in 1962 Dance With The Guitar Man brought him back on the charts with a party beat. Peter Gunn (1960), written by Henry Mancini, was the theme of a television program, and Ring Of Fire (1961), written by Eddy himself, was the topic of a film.

His twang by now antiquated, Eddy tried his luck in Europe.

As it had happened with the jazz trumpet and the saxophone, the guitar had become an independent voice.

Eddy remained forgotten for a while. Rediscovered in the 80s by the New Wave, Eddy recorded Duane Eddy (Capitol, 1987).