A really fun Duane Eddy window card from the peak of his career, 1960, in Klamath Falls, OR.

This is a highly unusual February 29^th event, obviously possible only once every four years. It’s even billed as a “Special Leap Year Dance.”

The Tilghman Press company out of Oakland, CA designed and printed this Duane Eddy show poster. Their posters had a very familiar and consistent look to them.

Tilghman usually printed their posters on a white background, or perhaps a solid color like yellow, but interestingly this one was done on a beige backdrop, which I’ve never seen before.

This Duane Eddy tour poster measures 14 by 22 inches, and was made on durable cardboard, perfect for the winters of the northwest during which this one was posted.

A whole bunch of vintage Klamath Falls concert posters have turned up in collectors’ hands, the result of a significant stash of them which was discovered decades after they were made.

Besides the beige backdrop, this Duane Eddy broadside consists of just two colors… red up top in the venue info, and black for the rest.

It almost appears to have a “split-fountain” effect between the two colors in the “In Person” strip above Eddy’s photograph.

If you’re a fan, you gotta love the way this particular Duane Eddy window poster carries eight song titles to plug his work.  That’s almost a record, it’s a huge number of songs on a poster.

Above the songs, a headline states, “Playing All His Top Hits.”  That was a natural, since his charting career was less than two years old at this point.

But what’s astonishing is that this Duane Eddy concert placard does not mention “Rebel-Rouser,” his signature tune that graced the national Top 10 in 1958.

What possible reason could they have for leaving it off? Oversight is all I can think of.  There really is no other feasible reason.  A mention of that song alone could’ve easy sold a dozen more tickets, I would speculate.

But at least “Forty Miles of Bad Road” is mentioned on this Duane Eddy appearance poster.  That was his second-biggest hit leading up to this time, hitting the National Top 10 the previous year (1959).

Also listed is “Bonnie Came Back,” his most recent single which reached only #26 nationally, and “Cannonball,” a Top 20 hit in 1958. The rest of the songs were non-charters.

That’s not to belittle this Duane Eddy telephone-pole poster; when you’re the world’s leading guitar instrumentalist, which he was at the time, you’re not as hit-single driven as, say, a vocalist might be.

In fact, England’s New Musical Express readers voted Duane “the world’s #1 musical personality” this year, beating out even Elvis Presley. Wow!

You might wonder why this Duane Eddy tour placard doesn’t have the biggest hit of his career, 1960’s “Because They’re Young,” mentioned anywhere.

That’s because it wouldn’t be released until after this show took place, so nobody knew it was going to be a hit, of course.

Another unusual aspect of this Duane Eddy street poster is that he shares it with nobody. A majority of the time, Tilghman posters had at least a second-billed act on there.

So that space is taken up by the name of Eddy’s group, The Rebels. Sure would have been nice to have seen their photo on there, too.

This lovely piece of Duane Eddy concert memorabilia is shown to you today by music historian and former ICE magazine publisher Pete Howard. I reside now in California’s central coast, and I can be reached via pete@postercentral.com or by calling (805) 540-0020. Please remember that I pay the best prices in this hobby, with no exceptions, for vintage pop-rock, soul, R&B and contemporary concert posters of all kinds, as long as they pre-date 1970.

Thank you for stopping by, and enjoy the video!