O/T DUANE EDDY

[Arpeggio]

In company with many Shads / Instros experts (+ c.2,000 other souls) I went to see Duane Eddy at the RFH last night. He was superb. His fantastic resonant 'twangy' guitar tones semed to emanate from deep within 'Echo Canyon'. Such a quietly spoken modest man - but his guitar said it all. Backed by crack musicians (mostly drawn from Richard Hawley's band) & a brilliant young sax player recently discovered by Duane in the USA (Duane is of the opinion that he sounds just like the legendary Steve Douglas and I wouldn't disagree with him) - Duane was indeed "Twangin' Up A Storm". I won't go through the entire set list (as I wasn't formally making notes). But....most of the big hits were present and correct: "Peter Gunn", "Yep!", "Cannonball", "Because They're Young", "Movin' 'n' Groovin", "Ramrod", "40 Miles Of Bad Road", "Dance With The Guitar Man" (with excellent female singers - very attractive too!), "Rebel Rouser" and many more. Richard Hawley joined Duane for a superb version of Sanford Clark's forgotten classic "The Fool" whilst I particularly enjoyed Duane's brilliant playing on "3.30 Blues". He's got a handful of UK dates lined up and will most likely have a few more early next year to promote his brand new album. He's 72 now - but definitely can still 'cut it'. My advice - go and see him while you still can. "The Twang's The Thang" - yes indeed.

Rob

http://www.5gig.co.uk/Duane+Eddy-tourdates/

[d jones]

Cheers Rob for the glowing report!can't wait for the 13th in York.
many thanks
Dave

[Arpeggio]

Hi Dave,
Tony Hoffman & Dave Herbert were there too. I know that 'Hoffers' will be at the York show. The first half (45 / 50 minutes) was Richard Hawley's band - all vocals. Excellent muicians and fine singing. You either like RH's material or you don't. Duane did the second half c. 70 / 75 mins - there were quite a few other numbers that I didn't mention. Definitely not to be missed.

Bests....Rob

[ecca]

Cheers. love him to bits.
Shazam was Duane.... not them other lot.

[Arpeggio]

Hi Ecca (& everyone) - "Shazam!" was indeed present and correct.

Bests....Rob

[George Geddes]

I'm gutted that I can' t make it to any of DE's shows...

George

[RayL]

Oooh . . . . . how can I put this gently . . . . the first half was done by a guy called Pete Molinari, not Richard Hawley's band. Pete Molinari was backed by a UK guitar, bass and drums who had certainly rehearsed with him. However, as he mentioned more than once, the album that he was promoting had been recorded in Nashville. He was OK in a sort of sub-Dylanish way, but it seemed to me a shame that on an evening where people had come to hear an instrumental 'great', that the support was not also an instrumental band.

Richard Hawley guested on two numbers, Lee Hazlewood's The Girl On Death Row and Sanford Clark's Still Is The Night. (not The Fool) and Pete Molinari guested on Tennessee Waltz.

When I've got a bit more time I'll list the whole set, but of interest was that it was almost entirely tunes from the Jamie years.

Ray

[Moderne]

Sorry to be really nit-picky but it's "Still as the Night". I thought Richard Hawley's contribution was outstanding - I never thought I would hear those two obscure but brilliant songs played live with Duane (who played on the original recordings). It seems we have him to thank for the fact that Duane is over here for the first time since c.1991. What a shame Duane apparently can't get a record company distribution deal on his recently completed "Artefacts of Twang" album. Let's hope the Richard Hawley album project comes to fruition.

[Tim]

Just to echo (wrong word?) what others have said - DE was great last night. I really enjoyed it. The sound was spot-on and the sax player was fantastic. I agree with the comment about the support band. Not really the right sort of gig for them.
Tim

[Arpeggio]

Ah! Thanks Ray. Publicity at RFH was virtually non - existent - although I gather that the artistes names were posted on A5 'flyers' at some doors into the auditorium - unfortunately not the one that I went through. I'd read that Richard Hawley would be supporting Duane - put 2 & 2 together and made 7!!! I must confess that, although I don't own any Richard Hawley recordings, because of what I'd read about him and his group I was extremely bemused. Er, not surprising then - as it wasn't Richard Hawley Group / Band (1st half) as Ray said!!!!! Definitely not my 'cup of tea' (the support act) - I'm afraid. Very competent musicians - but the material wasn't for me. Duane himself (+ sax player + Richard Hawley + members of Richard Hawley's band) was superb.

Rob