Everyday Creation
This show has to do with different kinds of creation: human, divine, and a third kind that connects the two. Our human creativity is easy to talk about because clearly we're prolific creators. We make music, we write, we cook; we establish businesses, we design gardens, we invent things. The list goes on and on. Another kind of creation is divine. We feel its presence when, for example, we contemplate birth, death, our life purpose, or have a quiet realization that there's something bigger than us. The third kind is perhaps the most difficult to grasp and yet with a little practice, it's easy to put into action. This is the personal power each of us has to direct our thoughts, words and actions toward what we want in our lives, rather than what we don't want. Do we want a better life, a kinder world? Let's begin with what we think, say and do. That doesn't seem like much, but it is.
Thank you for following Everyday Creation, a podcast featuring interviews with creative individuals; short, illuminating tributes to creatives who have passed away; and essays about personal power.
I'm Kate Jones, host and creator of Everyday Creation, available at k.jones.everydaycreation@gmail.com.
Everyday Creation
Guitarist Duane "Rebel Rouser" Eddy Influenced Hendrix, Springsteen and Many Others
Guitarist Duane Eddy, whose signature sound was known as twang, began playing guitar at age five and later became an early rock music influencer.
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival referred to him as "the first rock and roll guitar god."
Eddy recorded "Rebel Rouser" in 1958. The song, which really shows off that signature twang, reached number six on Billboard's Hot 100. His highest charting song was "Because They're Young," which peaked at number four.
This episode's thumbnail photo is of Eddy performing in 2018. It's attributed to Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0. In the chapters, you'll see a Duane Eddy trading card from 1960. It was one of a series of recording artist cards issued by the gum manufacturer Frank C. Fleer Corporation. Both images are available on Wikimedia Commons.
To hear "Rebel Rouser," you can go to this video of Eddy performing with Paul Shaffer's band on "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1985. The comments are great. Here's one of them: "As soon as you hear that guitar you know who it is. An American legend. May he rest in peace."
To hear "These Boots Are Made For Walking," which Eddy recorded with his producer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood, you can go to this video.
This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
_(cropped).jpg)
Sheldon:
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.480
When Duane Eddy started playing the guitar at
00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:03.300
age 5,
00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:05.760
little did he know he would become one
00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:06.740
of the most influential
00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:07.780
guitarists
00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:09.780
of the early rock era.
00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:15.055
He had 16 top-40 singles between 1958
00:00:15.055 --> 00:00:16.755
and 1963.
00:00:17.295 --> 00:00:18.735
He had 27
00:00:18.735 --> 00:00:20.835
top 100 hits in his career.
00:00:21.295 --> 00:00:23.395
He did it without using his voice.
00:00:24.175 --> 00:00:26.975
He was serious when in a 1986
00:00:26.975 --> 00:00:30.250
interview, he said, "One of my biggest contributions
00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:33.210
to the music business is not singing."
00:00:34.630 --> 00:00:37.910
Eddy died April 30 in Franklin, Tennessee, from
00:00:37.910 --> 00:00:38.410
cancer.
00:00:38.870 --> 00:00:40.250
He was 86.
00:00:40.915 --> 00:00:43.235
The Song of the Day is paying tribute
00:00:43.235 --> 00:00:46.515
to the singers, songwriters, and musicians who died
00:00:46.515 --> 00:00:47.975
in 2024.
00:00:48.675 --> 00:00:51.955
Eddy influenced the second generation of guitar players
00:00:51.955 --> 00:00:55.095
like Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and George Harrison.
00:00:55.860 --> 00:00:58.840
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:01.400
on the Rhino Records website
00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:04.340
called Eddy "the first rock and roll guitar
00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:07.800
god." Eddy's guitar sound became known as twang.
00:01:08.545 --> 00:01:11.025
Most of his early albums had twang in
00:01:11.025 --> 00:01:11.685
the title.
00:01:12.385 --> 00:01:13.845
He mastered a distinctive
00:01:14.225 --> 00:01:16.805
sound based on the premise that a guitarist's
00:01:17.105 --> 00:01:17.925
bass strings
00:01:18.545 --> 00:01:21.285
sounded better on tape than the high ones,
00:01:21.425 --> 00:01:22.565
according to NPR's
00:01:22.945 --> 00:01:23.445
obit.
00:01:24.150 --> 00:01:25.370
Many of his songs,
00:01:25.750 --> 00:01:28.250
like "Peter Gunn" and "Because They're Young,"
00:01:28.710 --> 00:01:30.410
became themes for television
00:01:30.710 --> 00:01:31.450
and movies.
00:01:32.230 --> 00:01:33.050
He recorded
00:01:33.510 --> 00:01:36.010
"Rebel Rouser" in 1958.
00:01:36.475 --> 00:01:39.055
He recorded it with his producer-songwriter
00:01:39.355 --> 00:01:40.175
Lee Hazlewood
00:01:40.715 --> 00:01:43.215
of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" fame.
00:01:43.835 --> 00:01:46.635
The song reached number six on Billboard's Hot
00:01:46.635 --> 00:01:47.375
100.
00:01:48.155 --> 00:01:49.375
"Because They're Young"
00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:52.140
is the only song that did better,
00:01:52.360 --> 00:01:53.820
reaching number four.
00:01:54.440 --> 00:01:55.420
Eddy's popularity
00:01:55.880 --> 00:01:57.900
faded by the mid-1960s,
00:01:58.360 --> 00:02:00.380
though he would have a couple of successful
00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:01.020
comebacks.
00:02:01.800 --> 00:02:04.620
He mostly retired by the 1980s,
00:02:04.945 --> 00:02:06.245
living off his royalties.
Kate:
00:02:08.465 --> 00:02:11.265
That was Song of the Day creator Sheldon
00:02:11.265 --> 00:02:11.765
Zoldan,
00:02:12.145 --> 00:02:15.365
and I'm Kate Jones, host of Everyday Creation.
00:02:16.225 --> 00:02:18.323
Thank you for joining us today.
