About me

Johnny Sippell is a Singer/Songwriter from Isle of Palms, SC currently residing in the Ocean State. As a professional bass player Johnny recently held down a six year stint at Fifth Element with the "Newport Groove Merchants". He also founded an Island Style duo "The X Isles" in 2010 playing parties and events throughout Southern New England with drummer/pan player Rick Andre. During the pandemic Johnny began exploring open tunings on his vintage Westerly Guild acoustic guitar, writing and reworking songs for his new release "Haints & Anglers", drawing on fond memories of growing up in the Coastal Carolina low country.

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Johnny attended college at U of North Texas and later earned a Bachelor of Music degree at UT of San Antonio. As a veteran of the Austin music scene, Johnny had the good fortunate to back up great entertainers like Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, Monte Montgomery and the Dixie Chicks, as well as open shows for Eric Johnson, Kenny Loggins and Bob Dylan. In San Antonio he spearheaded a band with two names; "Big Bang Theory" and "Twilight" (long before the show or movies!) playing both nightclubs and corporate events.

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In the mid 90s Johnny and his lovely wife Mary moved to Hawaii where opportunities arose to play blues & Latin jazz in local groups around Honolulu and perform reggae & world music on a few mini-tours of Japan. Their beautiful daughter Margeaux was born just two years before they moved to Rhode Island in 1998.

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