The return of Duane Eddy can only be a good thing. Now in his 73rd year, the original sultan of twang did as much as anyone to shift the guitar into the forecourt of rock’n’roll in the late 50s and early 60s.
Road Trip, his first album for nearly a quarter century, finds him teaming up with lifelong fan and co-producer Richard Hawley.
There’s no easy trading on past glories here. These 11 instrumentals are all spanking new, infused with a melodic spaciousness that allows the copper-bottomed beauty of Eddy’s playing to shine through. A familiar deep twang pervades the fantastically-titled The Attack Of The Duck Billed Platypus, but elsewhere it’s surprisingly delicate and understated.
Kindness Ain’t Made Of Sand and Bleaklow Air – the latter inspired by a tract of Derbyshire moorland – are unadorned and elegiac. But Eddy clearly isn’t resting up just yet. Both Primeval and Curveball are quaking rockfests with dirty piano and honking great sax.
