Biography

Noted guitarist and composer who churned out a slew of highly charted instrumental hits in the late '50s and '60s ("Rebel Rouser","Cannonball", "Yep", "Forty Miles Of Bad Road","Because They're Young", "Pepe","Peter Gunn", "Boss Guitar"), best known for his "twangy" guitar riffs.

Inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Is mentioned in the song "Life Is a Rock But the Radio Rolled Me" by Reunion.

Covered the song "Sugarfoot Rag" by Hank Garland, in the early '60s. It appeared again on his album, "The RCA Years: 1962-1964" released in 1999.

He scored theme music for movies including Because They're Young (1960), Pepe (1960) and Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961). But Eddy said he turned down doing the James Bond theme song because there wasn't enough guitar music in it.

[on Hank Garland] He'd work a country session for Stonewall Jackson during the daytime, then go out and play astounding jazz in a club at night. And he wrote one of the all-time great country instrumentals with "Sugarfoot Rag". That's the first I heard of him: playing "Sugarfoot Rag" on the Opry, just driving the folks wild.

Hank Williams was my mentor, really. He said to get your own style and do it with authority. Some people didn't get it, but I understood what he was getting at.

I started playing the bass strings as they made more impact--especially when amplified--but you had to have a strong riff or melody, and that's what I did. And I played it with authority and feeling.

My dad had an old guitar and he showed me two or three chords, so I practiced them and sang to try to emulate my cowboy heroes Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Then, when I was about ten or 11, I learned that you could play "up the neck", so that kept me busy for another couple of years.

One of my biggest contributions to the music business is not singing.