We had a fabulous September meeting! With nearly 200 uke enthusiasts, we celebrated the remarkable Dolly Parton, as we learned to sing and strum her chart-topping “9 to 5.” The passing of this inspirational musician, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and business woman has shown us how much she was revered around the world.❤
Bob welcomed newbies and visitors alike and presented the agenda for the evening. He shared local ukulele news, including info about the upcoming the Groundwork Music Project Fundraiser and Soiree on November 7 and the Austin Steel Guitar Fest with a ukes-welcome Kanikapila on Friday, October 2.
Then we got the music-making started by playing our traditional warm-up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”
Bob performed his arrangement of “9 to 5” to help us get ready to pay homage to the late great Dolly Parton. We then jumped into learning this peppy song. Bob broke down the strum patterns, chord progressions, picking option and harmonies for us; we practiced each part of the song and sounded great when we put it together.
For the open mic portion of the eve, we had the lovely leader of Fort Myers, Florida’s “oo koo lay lay” group – Dawn – lead us in her fun rendition of “Tiny Bubbles.” Download the lyrics and chords of her rendition of this tune. Thanks so much for sharing your skills with us Dawn!
After Dawn’s great sing-along, we got back to work on “9 to 5.” After playing it through a few more times, we recorded it for you to enjoy and play along with from wherever you are in the world. Look for our video performance of “9 to 5,” coming soon to our YouTube Channel!
To play along, you can download the lyrics, chords, and tab for Bob’s arrangement of “9 to 5” or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide (what we project on the screens for all to follow along, including exercises and drills).
We’re very grateful to Aaron Lewis for backing us on bass and to our special guest drummer, Grant Anderson, for helping us keep the beat on this terrific cover. As always, many, many thanks to all the fabulous AUS volunteers for their hard work. 
We’re looking forward to seeing you again at our next meeting on October 8 at St. John’s United Methodist Church and our October 22 live online meeting. Be well and keep on strumming until then! 🙂
For more downloadable music, visit our Ukulele Music Library. For more Austin Ukulele Society videos, check out our YouTube Channel.
We appreciate your support and interest. If you’d like to make a donation to the Austin Ukulele Society (a 501(c)(3) organization), visit our Square Donation site. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please fill out our this short sign-up form. For any other inquiries, please contact us or shoot us an email if you have previous correspondence with us.
Ukulele Society T-shirts and Merch!
We’re very excited about our 2026 Austin Ukulele Society t-shirt, “Ukin’ Armadillo,” designed by Lyda Guz. This cool design features a rockin’ and rollin’ armadillo happily strumming his favorite ukulele decorated with 16 stars to celebrates the Austin Ukulele Society’s 16th year of making music together. As always, the shirts are silk-screened right here in Austin at a fantastic locally-owned print shop.
Our new “Ukin’ Armadillo” design, “Circle of Stars,” “AUS Grackle,” “Classic Ukulele,” “Ukulele Around the World,” “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” “Austin Lasso” and other shirts are $25. We also have vinyl decals with the AUS logo for $1 each. We can accept cash or a check made out to Austin Ukulele Society; you can also make payment via Venmo or PayPal. Please drop us a line if you’d like to purchase a shirt (or two or three). 🙂 At this time, we can only ship orders within the U.S.
Austin Ukulele Society (AUS) 