
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 just found integrated lyrics and tab for this song on the Acoustic Guitar site, same key and chords as Orville. I subscribe to the magazine and I believe you have to in order to access the site. The magazine is well worth the subscription price.
hi from Italy, it's the first time for me trying to play fingerstile blues and my fingers don't respond like I was hoping but... it starts to work, little by little, one note after other, I'm really enjoing to play it and I'm really happy about my first month in jamplay
How about posting with the chords/tabs and words together in one spot?
I really enjoy your lessons, Orville, but I can't decide if you are playing the last open 4th string on, before, or after the pull off in the first full measure. Thanks again for a great tune.
Another great lesson Orville. A relatively simple tune to learn but it sounds really classy when played 'in the groove". Keep 'em coming Orville - and thanks
Nice lesson Orville. Very nice melody and it will be fun learning this one!
I love it. Cant wait for the notation/tabs.
The tabs are in there now. I also typed up the lyrics to the song. Enjoy!!
Matt is working on em, sorry for the delay :)
Although I can't verify this is true, I found the following regarding the way 'Little Hat' Jones got his nickname: Biographical note from "The Handbook of Texas Online"- JONES, GEORGE [LITTLE HAT] (1899-1981). Blues musician George (Little Hat) Jones was born on a farm near the Sulphur River in Bowie County, Texas, on October 5, 1899, the only child of Felix Jones and his wife. The family farm was purchased by Jones' grandfather, a former slave. Jones was a talented, though little known, blues musician. He quit school at the age of thirteen, after his father became ill and several crops were destroyed, in order to help out on the farm. During this period his mother bought him his first guitar. Between 1916 and 1929 he probably worked as a menial laborer. He acquired his nickname at a construction job in Garland. Because Jones came to work with a hat from which half the brim had been cut off, his boss called him "Little Hat" Jones and even made out his paychecks this way.