Johnny Hiland

Guitarist Johnny Hiland was created with nystagmus, a condition leading to involuntary eye motion and making him legally blind. He was raised in a truck house in Woodland, Me personally, and had taken to your guitar at a age group. At eight, he became a member of his family’s music group, the Three Js, which toured New Britain beneath the auspices from the Down East Nation Music Association. At ten, Hiland gained the Talent America competition, entitling him to some performance in NEW YORK. In senior high school, his musical likes expanded beyond bluegrass to your guitar rock and roll of players like Joe Satriani and Eddie Truck Halen. After senior high school, he went to the School of Southern Maine as a brief history major, but eventually dropped out to become professional musician. In 1996, he transferred to Nashville, where he quickly seduced attention at regional clubs, gaining a residency on the World-Famous Turf and, when that membership was destroyed by way of a tornado in 1998, at Robert’s Traditional western Use with Don Kelly’s music group. He supported Gary Chapman on the Ryman Auditorium, house from the Grand Ole Opry, and became the very first unsigned musician in Nashville to get an endorsement cope with Fender musical equipment. After his supervisor left section of a demonstration on Steve Vai’s tone of voice mail, Vai known as back again with an present for Hiland to indication to his Preferred Countries label. There adopted 2 yrs of trial-and-error planning for Hiland’s 1st album of unique country and rock and roll acoustic guitar instrumentals, Johnny Hiland, released in August 2004. In the meantime, Hiland had turn into a busy program musician in Nashville, documenting with Ricky Skaggs, Toby Keith, Randy Travis, Janie Fricke, and Lynn Anderson.