ABOUT
THE ARTIST
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.
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Johnson
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
Johnson 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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