Slide & Joy by Orville Johnson

Originally released in 1999

This is my first all instrumental dobro album, originally released in 1999. It's taken me 20 years to do another one! (Orville Johnson and his Ampliphonic Guitar, also available here at BandCamp). It let the world at large know I was part of the dobro fraternity. I think it came out pretty well. Here are the original liner notes, written by my friend and prodigious composer and guitarist John Miller.

" I'm so glad to be able to herald the release of "Slide & Joy," a new CD devoted to the strikingly original dobro playing of Orville Johnson. "Slide & Joy" is a big statement from a big man with a big gift. As I listen to it, I can't help but be amazed by how wide a swath Orville cuts with his dobro, ranging stylistically from a second line New Orleans rave-up to Latin jazz, ballads, Memphis R&B, and bluegrass. The power and conviction with which Orville expresses himself keep all this diversity from degenerating into a tedious eclecticism. Rather, I am struck by how sympathetically these various styles co-exist in Orville's hands and ears, heart and head. So it is then, that the various styles of music Orville plays are synthesized by his sensibility into something much bigger and more all encompassing: MUSIC.

I know from talking with him that Orville holds the sound of the human voice as a star, guiding his musical expression. To get some sense of how admirably he attains his ideal, listen to his rendition of Charlie Haden's beautiful "First Song" or "Mambolaya," where the dobro sounds as though it is speaking in tongues.

One other aspect of Orville's playing that impresses me is how completely he trusts his ears, and acts on that trust. Orville has studied virtually everything that has been done on the dobro, but rather than aping the mannerisms of other dobro players, past and present, he has chosen to go his own way, and speak in his own voice. I am so glad Orville made this choice and when you hear the music on "Slide & Joy," you will be glad, too.

All best, John M. Miller, Spring 1999"

This album is dedicated to my friend Mike Earley.

Special Thanks: Parry Marston • Richard Russell • John Miller • Brad Inserra • John O • Stuart Brune • David Lange • Michael Gray • Charlie Haden • Nick Hornbuckle • Bill Monroe • John Hartford •

Orville Johnson was raised in the Illinois heartland. He acquired his love of singing as a youth in the fundamentalist Pentecostal church he attended and, when he later began playing guitar and dobro, responded to the roots music that surrounded him by learning to play the blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, and country music that are all part of the mosaic that characterizes his own mongrel music.

orvillejohnson.com
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