
Orville Johnson teaches a select group of his favorite songs, including a few originals.
Lesson 1
Orville Johnson teaches his version of the classic blues song "Come Back Baby."
Length: 29:43 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 2
Orville Johnson teaches a classic blues song entitled "Depot Blues." This lesson was inspired by the blues great Son House.
Length: 35:31 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 3
Orville Johnson teaches the traditional blues song "Railroad Bill."
Length: 16:10 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
Orville teaches the classic blues song "Bye Bye Baby Blues" by Little Hat Jones.
Length: 21:48 Difficulty: 2.5 Members OnlyLesson 5
Orville Johnson teaches the classic "Spanish Fandango."
Length: 32:50 Difficulty: 3.0 Members OnlyLesson 6
Orville Johnson teaches a classic song entitled "A Bicycle Built for Two." This song is also known as "Daisy Bell."
Length: 23:54 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
About Orville Johnson
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Orville Johnson was born in 1953 in Edwardsville, Illinois and came up on the St. Louis, Missouri music scene, where he was exposed to and participated in a variety of blues, bluegrass and American roots music. He began singing in his Pentecostal church as a young boy, in rock bands in middle school, then took up the guitar at 17,with early influences from Doc Watson, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Chuck Berry. In the early 1970's, Orville spent several seasons playing bluegrass on the SS Julia Belle Swain, a period-piece Mississippi river steamboat plying the inland waterways, with his group the Steamboat Ramblers.
Orville moved to Seattle, Washington in 1978, where he was a founding member of the much-loved and well-remembered folk/rock group, the Dynamic Logs. Other musical associates include Laura Love, Ranch Romance, File' Gumbo Zydeco Band, Scott Law, and the Twirling Mickeys. Johnson, known for his dobro and slide guitar stylings and vocal acrobatics, has played on over 100 albums. He has appeared on Garrison Keilor's Prairie Home Companion, Jay Leno's Tonight Show and was featured in the 1997 film Georgia with Mare Winningham. His musical expertise can also be heard on the Microsoft CD-ROMs, Musical Instruments of the World and the Complete Encyclopedia of Baseball. He teaches as well at the International Guitar Seminar, Pt. Townsend Country Blues Week and Puget Sound Guitar Workshop.
Orville released 4 recordings in the 1990's: The World According to Orville (1990) Blueprint for the Blues (1998) Slide & Joy (1999) an all-instrumental dobro tour de force and Kings of Mongrel Folk (1997) with Mark Graham. He also appeared on 4 discs with the File' Gumbo Zydeco Band and produced Whose World Is This (1997) for Jim Page and Inner Life (1999) for Mark Graham. In the 21st century, he has released Freehand, a new Kings of Mongrel Folk disc, Still Goin' Strong, and been featured in the soundtracks of PBS' Frontier House and the Peter Fonda flick The Wooly Boys as well as the compilation cd Legends of the Incredible Lap Steel Guitar.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.I love this tune! Question: You say the changed time is 2/4, but the supplemental is written 2/2. In 2/2 in the 1st measure I'm counting "1 and 2 and," giving each q note a half beat. Correct?
Hey there, just so you know Orville is currently out here in Colorado filming some new lessons so he won't be able to respond to you right away. Sorry for the delay!
goes first 3 mins of TALK...how about some playing?
interesting song...open G tuning could also be called TaroPatch tuning as in Slack key, no? Sounds a bit Hawaiian to me at any rate :) Thanks for the lesson, Mike
The supplemental content is now available.
Is Spanish Fandango the same song as Violet Waltz copyright 1853?
what does fandango mean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandango
I think it's the name of a Spanish dance
Welcome back Orville. I very much enjoy your lessons. I find them not too long and involved and, with some work, I can end up getting them.
Supplemental content will be up soon. Thanks for the patience. :)