Darrel Higham has been a leading light on the UK rockin’ scene for more than 30 years. The acclaimed rockabilly guitarist rose to fame via his work with Imelda May and over the years has collaborated with everyone from Chrissie Hynde, Slim Jim Phantom and Jeff Beck to Shakin’ Stevens, Billy Lee Riley and Rocky Burnette.

A passionate advocate for rock’n’roll and rockabilly music, Darrel’s also one of this country’s foremost Eddie Cochran aficionados. Higham fell in love with the music of the iconic rock’n’roller as a young boy and would go on to co-pen one of the most definitive accounts to date of the star’s life, with 2000’s Don’t Forget Me – The Eddie Cochran Story.

Vintage Rock meets Higham, to hear about his formative years listening to the music he holds so dear and how his hero’s chosen Gretsch 6120 guitar proved to be the perfect fit for his own musicianship.

What is it about Gretsch’s 6120 that suits rockabilly so well?

I think it’s because, at heart, the 6120 is a country guitar and rockabilly takes the vast majority of its influence from country music. The 6120 was designed for Chet Atkins and he was primarily a country player. Of course, he could, and did, play a vast array of musical styles, but he’s known mainly for his thumbpicking technique that suited country music.

It was Chet that led Eddie Cochran to the 6120. Was it pure chance that it was a match made in heaven?

Eddie was a huge fan of Chet Atkins so it’s no surprise he chose the 6120. It would have been a very expensive investment for him back when he bought the guitar. At the time Eddie acquired the 6120, he was working with Hank Cochran – no relation – and they were performing around the West Coast of the US as a country duo. The fact that rock’n’roll was becoming popular around this time was pure chance.

Eddie had already made the investment and just naturally moved towards this new form of music and took the Gretsch along with him. I’m not entirely sure if there were any high-profile guitarists using a Gretsch prior to Eddie. Certainly he was the first young rock’n’roll artist to showcase the guitar onscreen through his appearance in the movie The Girl Can’t Help It. There’s absolutely no doubt that Eddie’s iconic performance of Twenty Flight Rock in the film helped give the 6120 its rockabilly credibility.

Tell us about your love of Eddie and how much of a part the Gretsch played – and his various modifications such as the classic P-90 pick-ups…

I discovered Eddie through my parents’ record collection back in the mid-70s. They had a copy of the Singin’ To My Baby LP. The front cover has two headshots of Eddie and in the middle, there’s a photo of him with his 6120. I immediately fell in love with the guitar and from that point on I wanted to play – and eventually own – one for myself.

I had to wait until 1990 to own my first 6120 when my Dad bought one for me. I’d just turned 20 and wanted to make a career for myself playing rockabilly. In 1989 I’d read an article that Gretsch was back in business and the company were having a few different models made in Japan. The 6120 was to be one of these guitars. I placed an order in late 1989 and the instrument eventually arrived into the UK in early 1990.

It was not a faithful reproduction of Eddie’s 1955 6120. For example, it didn’t have the DeArmond pick-ups or the fixed arm Bigsby. So over the course of the next few years, I changed things to make the guitar look more like Eddie’s… sadly, the guitar was stolen from a theatre in Melton Mowbray in 1998.

I did add a P-90 pick-up to the neck of my guitar as Eddie had done to his. I assumed Eddie did this because he was a great fan of jazz music and was, by all accounts of those that knew him, a very good jazz guitarist. He had owned a Gibson prior to buying his Gretsch so my feeling is that he wanted to retain the traditional mellow sound that a P-90 gives a guitar as that tone suits jazz much more than the pick-ups that originally came with the 6120.

Do you think Gretsch would be what it is without him?

No. He was one of the first young rock’n’roll stars that sang and played exceptional lead guitar. Technically, he was one of the best players of his generation, in my opinion. An opinion that I believe is shared by a great many players, especially those that helped the evolution of guitar-playing techniques in the 60s.

Duane Eddy also played a major role in helping the 6120 become the definite rock’n’roll guitar, too. There is absolutely no question that both, through their respective successes, were hugely influential for Gretsch. The players influenced by both who couldn’t afford the 6120 naturally bought cheaper, more basic Gretsch models just so they had a guitar that resembled their heroes. The same thing happens today. If you can’t afford an Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy or Brian Setzer signature model, there are plenty of options available to own a Gretsch that looks the part, plays beautifully, sounds great and is affordable.

Eddie also used an acoustic guitar. What model was that?

He used a Martin D-18 acoustic on many of his recordings. The guitar was owned by his brother, Bob.

Gene Vincent’s first guitarist in the Blue Caps, the legendary Cliff Gallup, chose to use the Gretsch Duo Jet. Any idea why?

I’m unsure why he chose that particular model. My only thought is that he was a fan of Les Paul and Chet Atkins, so he chose the only instrument Gretsch made that resembled a Les Paul guitar.

It’s a shame that Gallup gets less column inches than others when he was so influential. What part do you think he’s played in the Gretsch story?

Amongst rockabilly guitarists, he is a god! No doubt about that. But he was only with the original Blue Caps for a short period of time and then left before going to playing local clubs around the area he lived. When Gene Vincent appeared in The Girl Can’t Help It, he used a guitarist called Russell Williford, who played a Telecaster. So for many years, there was a case of mistaken identity regarding Cliff. Many of us young rockabilly players in the early 1980s assumed that Russell was Cliff, so we all went out and bought Telecasters to try to get the original Blue Cap sound! It probably wasn’t until the Guitar Player article on rockabilly in 1983 that most of us realised the mistake and discovered through that interview with Cliff that he played a Gretsch Duo Jet.

The Duo Jet seems a lot less popular as a choice – any reason?

The Duo Jet resembles the Les Paul – a guitar that is deemed a ‘heavy rock’ instrument. It’s no surprise to me this model did not take off in the authentic rockabilly world of the 1980s and beyond. Of course, there are Cliff devotees out there who play a Duo Jet but, sadly, there aren’t many of them.

I own a Duo Jet and use it for gigs with Cliff Edmonds, who does a superb Gene Vincent tribute, and together we play festivals around the UK and Europe performing a Gene and Eddie tribute set. I also used it on my own Gene Vincent tribute album that I recorded last year. And I tend to keep the Jet in my front room on a guitar stand next to the TV, so I play it a lot more than probably my other Gretsch guitars – I like to plonk away on that late at night when I’m watching crappy horror movies…

The Bigsby vibrato is an equally iconic part of the Gretsch look and sound. Are you a fan?

The Bigsby is a great addition to any guitar. I love them and can’t really play a guitar properly without one! It can be used to end a song, make a solo more interesting, or to play chords gently underneath the vocals. Its versatility is amazing. I favour the fixed-arm vibrato – or stationary arm – as opposed to the sway-arm, simply because that’s what Eddie Cochran used. I think Duane’s 6120 was made in 1957 and, by then, Bigsby had stopped manufacturing the fixed arm, so his was the sway-arm Bigsby. And by definition, the fixed-arm doesn’t move whereas the sway-arm can be pushed away from the strings so it’s not in the way when not needed.

Did the Bigsby play a big part in early rock’n’roll music?

Yes. Prior to the tremolo effect being built into guitar amps, the Bigsby vibrato was the only way to create that sound.

Back in the day, Gretsch seemed to be quite adaptable compared to their competitors. Do you think all the Gretsch players got different things from the guitar? Chet, Cliff, Eddie, Bo, Duane…

Yes. They all had their own styles and techniques and that’s why all those players are held in such high esteem. They were all originators of a style that went on to become incredibly influential. Some more so than others but the combined influence of all those players, Duane included, is massive.

Is the 6120 the ultimate rockabilly guitar?

When I first heard 50s rock’n’roll in the mid-70s, it was the most exciting music I’d come across at that point in my very short life! Certainly more exciting than what I’d heard being played on the radio at the time. Glam rock was all the rage back then and that did nothing for me and never really has. But hearing Elvis sing Hound Dog for the first time when I was aged four or five years old? That’s rock’n’roll and that’s exciting! But discovering Eddie a year or so later changed my life and set me on the path I’ve continued on since my teenage years – I’m a rockabilly guitarist who wants to be Eddie Cochran. Nothing has changed in 40 years!

To own a Gretsch 6120 was a boyhood dream that eventually came true and, with the odd blip for a few years that was not of my doing, I’ve stayed loyal to Gretsch because they represent everything that I hold dear to my heart with regards to the music I passionately love.

Brian Setzer also bought a 6120 because of Cochran. How do you think Brian used his to make the sound contemporary? Is his use of the guitar similar to yours?

Brian is so technically above me as a player, he might as well live on another planet! I love his style and technique and consider him to be the most influential rockabilly guitarist of all time. There are more players out there today trying to play like him than Eddie, Cliff, and Duane put together and that’s just simply a fact.

Not taking anything away from the brilliance of the originators but as a young player, I always felt their style was achievable for me to learn. But Brian came along and brought other influences into rockabilly music that were beyond me then and still are today. It is pointless to even compare myself to him, so I don’t, but I always loved his attitude towards playing rockabilly music and that was the influence from him that really resonated with me.

He just played whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. If he felt a Cliff Gallup influence needed to go into a Johnny Burnette song, he’d just do it. He broke rules and regulations that seemed to be in place for rockabilly guitarists back in the early 80s – the main rule being that a rockabilly guitarist was judged on how closely he could replicate original solos. Brian changed all that by coming up with his own iconic solos and just putting in his own influences wherever he felt they needed to go. I found that liberating. I met him when Imelda and I played in New York with Jeff Beck and was able to shake his hand and thank him for that influence. I’m happy with that.

What are your favourite guitar licks played on a Gretsch?

Eddie Cochran’s Teenage Cutie typifies the tone I love and the solo is just fantastic. Also, Stray Cats with Runaway Boys because it was such an exciting record to hear back in 1981 and the solo is magic. I discovered Duane Eddy at quite a young age and always loved his records and particularly his tone. Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps’ first 35 recordings with Cliff Gallup on lead guitar were, and still are, the benchmark for rockabilly as far as I’m concerned.

What can you tell us about your Custom Shop Gretsch 6120?

I own two Custom Shop guitars and both were built by master builder, Stephen Stern. One was built in 2008 and is a faithful reproduction of the 1955 6120 ‘G’ brand. I replaced the front pick-up with a P-90, sandpapered off the gold paint on the scratch plate and had the Bigsby anodised to make it look like Eddie Cochran’s guitar. I used that when I was with Imelda’s band, until I realised it was too delicate for the rigours of touring so I now keep it at home and use it for recording only.

The second guitar is really part of the White Falcon family but I asked Stephen to make me a Falcon that resembled a 6120. The Falcon has a slightly larger body than the 6120 so I like the idea of having a bigger guitar. I also own a White Falcon and really love those but I wanted something different and personal to me. It’s a lovely guitar and I use that on all the gigs I do, except when I play abroad as I won’t take it with me because it’s too heavy and doesn’t fit in a case that I can carry on my shoulders. I use an Eddie Cochran signature Gretsch for gigs abroad.

Words by Rik Flynn

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