There was nobody at the time who was playing slide guitar like Johnny, and nobody, or no white guys at least, that was playing country blues like that on the acoustic guitar. And it was at that point that I realized what Johnny had to offer.

The old lyric of "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo" was rewritten into "Read the Word Live It Too" and his new life was breathed into "Still Alive And Well". "Real American" is featured in the episode "Gumball Special" of Jackass. He has played for "Weird Al" on many of his albums playing guitar and mandolin; on the track "Eat It" Derringer played the guitar solo an homage/parody to Eddie Van Halen's solo on the Michael Jackson song "Beat It".

Derringer came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of The McCoys who had a number one hit single with "Hang on Sloopy. Derringer then turned to blues rock scoring a 1970 hit with "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo".