FORTY MILES OF BAD ROAD by DUANE EDDY. Story by David Oke.

The Sphinx Hotel, Geelong, December 2024.

You know that fantasy when you kick the winning goal of a footy match?  Or hit the winning run in a Test match? Or that one where your favourite team is a player down and they pick you from the crowd to pull on the boots?  Something similar to that last scenario recently happened to me.

Since retirement from teaching I’ve had time to attend various musical jam sessions. One such is the Geelong Musicians Reunion. Named Don’s Party, it came about as the blokes who played in the very active Geelong music scene in the 1960s, 70s and 80s realised that they were only getting together when it was someone’s funeral. Don was a drummer and his passing triggered the idea of a monthly jam session, currently held at the Sphinx Hotel (one of the seven ancient wonders of Geelong) as a catch up to play and reminisce with others in the fraternity.

I turned up in January 2024  with one of my saxophones and fitted in straight away. I could legitimately be there as I did play in a covers band in Geelong in the 1980s, but at 63, I’m the kid. Groups get up and perform three songs then others have a turn. Often, extras are invited to join in and fatten the sound. There is a large crowd of onlookers.

One  of the groups there that I always enjoy is Beyond The Shadows – they specialise in playing the instrumental music of The Shadows, and occasionally have someone come and sing Cliff Richard numbers as The Shadows was his backing band. Beyond The Shadows is  more than a tribute band – they were playing these songs when they were in the music charts in the early 1960s. They play them note perfectly. To hear them play Sleepwalk  in the Shadows style is like nothing else. As someone who was a teenager in the 1970s their instrumental music is from another era – music from the days where they’d play at church youth group dances and at the Palais where the ballroom dancing crowd would be expecting a foxtrot, modern waltz or pride of Erin. I’m in awe of their skill, precision and musicality. They even have matching red guitars!

Learning some musical tricks from these masters means the jam becomes a living history lesson. I learnt that from the late 1950s and early 1960s there was an American instrumental artist, on guitar, at the same time as The Shadows from England. His name was Duane Eddy and his style would now be categorised as rockabilly or even country.

Late last year, Charles, the bass player from Beyond The Shadows asked whether I’d be interested in playing three Duane tunes at the December jam. It was difficult to hide my excitement. The challenge was on. When I got home I rushed straight to YouTube to have a listen and take notes. There was no sheet music involved.

These guys are professionals – you don’t get a run through – you’re expected to know your stuff. I worked hard in preparation. Come performance day I felt like I was facing a medical procedure – I kept hoping that things would go well and that we’d all come out of it without regrets or injury to the confidence. I even had a last listen to one song before entering the venue – just to memorise the song pattern. We were the second act for the afternoon.

As we stepped up, Daryl, the lead guitarist announced that “We’re going to break tradition – we’re not playing the ‘Shads’ today – instead, we’re playing a tribute to Duane Eddy and we have Dave Oke on sax to help us out”.

Off we went with the sound of the guitar twang – Rebel Rouser. There were more than 200 people in the room and I could see that many were certainly turning around to take notice. The sax microphone was good and loud. Next song was Forty Miles of Bad Road and then the Peter Gunn T.V. theme with extensive sax solos. The music even attracted some dancers. All six of us listened carefully to one another, exercised eye contact and lapped up the fun of the moment.

At the end there were big smiles all round. We’d nailed it. I was really pleased with my performance as well as that of the band. One comment was that it was all ‘pretty authentic’. I asked if we could do this again some time and there was an enthusiastic yes response and lots of head nodding.

I did jam with some other groups that day but the highlight, for me, was playing those old Duane Eddy tunes. Musically it was a little bit of a challenge but the biggest memory was playing alongside those people, some who were playing guitar before I was born, but being treated as an equal. The risk they took in inviting me to play had paid off well.  I’ll now always remember Forty Miles of Bad Road as a momento of the experience. It sure becomes an earworm. I read that the song title it is a Southern state term for ‘someone who looks or feels very bad’. Perhaps the interjections of the raspy saxophone infers the ‘badness’. If taken literally, the tune title doesn’t match the feel of the song. To me it’s too happy. Maybe, next time I’m driving over potholes or shaken to bits on a corrugated road I’ll remember Forty Miles of Bad Road to cheer me up!

Stereo Story 839