Guitarist – Singer-Songwriter – Multi Instrumentalist – Performer
Location: North Shore Massachusetts and Southern NH up to the Lakes Region
Music Genre – Singer Songwriter – Classic Rock covers – Texas Singer Songwriters – Red Dirt Music
Affiliated Bands- Current: Don’t Think Twice Trio Past: Loose Gravel, The 23 Pound Cat, the Rough Edges, the Edgar Squires Band
Description of Music
JohnnyO is a singer-songwriter from New England with deeps roots in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Johnny also lived in North Texas for ten years from 205 to 2014 and built a strong bond with fellow musicians there while playing as a solo performer, as a duo with his daughter Anna and as a founding member for Loose Gravel, a rock-country blues outfit. As of 2026 JohnnyO continues to play across the New Hampshire and the North Shore of Massachusetts and co-hosts the weekly Openmic at Knights of Columbus Melrose.
Q. So how did you catch the music bug? Where did it all start for you?
My first exposure to music was when I began taking weekly trumpet lessons in the 4th grade. When I was about 13 years old my brother brought his girlfriend’s guitar home and I began playing that guitar as much as I could. By 16, I had y own guitar and I was writing songs and imagining a career as a rock star. I never quite hit true “Rock Star” status but I have a nice second career.
Q. What kind of music styles attracted you then and now and how has that changed?
I was the youngest of four kids and my older siblings had deep record collections. That was the 70s and vinyl music collections were in vogue. I listened to everything from The Beatles to Janis Joplin to the Woodstock album. But, soon I began to focus on singer songwriters like James Taylor and Harry Chapin. Harry was one of my big influences. That story song genre really caught me for a while.
Q. Do you write original music? How did you get started?
I began writing songs at sixteen years old. I have at least thirty to forty finished songs and many others in a mixed state or completion. At first I was channeling Harry Chapin and James Taylor but I have tried to move into different genres and not mimic other songwriters as much as possible. Twenty three of those songs are on two cds I recorded and issued in 2004 and 2005.
Q. You ended up in finance and banking as a career
Truth be told I probably didn’t have the pure talent nor the single minded drive to be a rock star, but as a Fraud Prevention Specialist I have a pretty good day job.
Q. What musical projects and ideas are you focused on these days?
I am lucky to have so many music friends. Don’t Think Twice is a classic rock and modern pop trio I play in and we have been pretty busy the past couple of years. Openmics are a longtime favorite way for me to enjoy playing music. As a community of musicians who interact in and around the music,openmics provide a lost of outlet for my musical inspiration.
Q. What is one fun story from your musical past.
In 1978 I was a nervous kid playing my first song “Rock and Roll Circle” at the Camp Calumet Staff show. I was pretty scared but went out there and gave it all I had. To my genuine surprise the entire hall rose up at the end and roared in a standing ovation. I walked off stage not quite sure what was happening. My good friend Bobby-Pete who was manning the curtain said “get back out there and do another!” I said,”I don’t know what to play.” He smiled and said, “Well go out there and play something.” Returning to the stage I played Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphy for an encore and my Rock and Roll dreams were laid in granite. I remember that day like it was yesterday!
