Duane recorded a tape which was broadcast on a local station and heard by another musician, Jimmy Delbridge. When they began to perform at local dances together, Eddy acquired the custom-made Chet Atkins-model Gretsch guitar that would become his signature instrument.
By the time a local disc-jockey, Lee Hazlewood (later to be a force in the music industry and to duet with Nancy Sinatra), heard Eddy play, he was leading a band called the Rebels. Hazlewood booked them at amateur shows and issued some records locally.
With Lester Sill, who raised the money to record four tracks with them, Hazlewood leased Eddy and the Rebels to the fledgling Philadelphia label Jamie Records.
Eddy’s throbbing first effort, Movin’ ‘n’ Groovin’, made in early 1958, introduced his twangy trademark sound, quickly followed by a new single, with Stalkin’ on the A-side and Rebel Rouser on the B-side, featuring a combination of whooping handclaps, yells, honking saxophone and moody guitar reverberation produced in an improvised echo-chamber – an empty water-tank with a speaker at one end and a microphone at the other.
Although Stalkin’ was featured several times on Dick Clark’s television show American Bandstand, it was only when Clark flipped it over that teenagers urged him to play it repeatedly, hoisting it to No 6 in the American charts (it made No 19 in Britain). The follow-ups, Ramrod and Cannonball (both 1958), set the pattern for the string of Eddy hits that followed.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
