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JOHNNY HILAND - All Fired Up; JOHNNY HILAND - All Fired Up
Topic Started: Aug 18 2011, 01:35 PM (229 Views)
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JOHNNY HILAND
All Fired Up

Provogue 2011

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Guitarist Johnny Hiland was born with nystagmus, a medical condition causing involuntary eye movement, which rendered him legally blind. He grew up in a trailer home in Woodland, ME, picking up a guitar early on, leading to him joining the family band, the Three Js, aged just eight. After high school, he went to the University of Southern Maine, dropping out to become a professional musician. In 1996, he moved to Nashville and worked as a session musician for country artists including Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs, Janie Fricke, and Hank Williams III. After his manager left part of a demo on Steve Vai's voice mail, Vai called back with an offer for Hiland to sign to his Favored Nations label, leading to his début album of original country and rock guitar instrumentals coming out in 2004.

Fast forward seven years and his third album continues in those footsteps, in the company of Joe Satriani / Steve Vai bassist, Stu Hamm and Vai drummer Jeremy Colson. So it's safe to say that instrumental chops are firmly in place. Hiland himself is an amazing guitarist which explains the instruction DVDs and him becoming the first unsigned artist to ever be awarded an endorsement deal from Fender. I'm no guitar geek, but even I can tell that he's ludicrously talented. But it wouldn't matter a fig if the tunes weren't up to it. And they are.

Now, remember, with the exception of a couple of bonus tracks tagged on the end, this is an instrumental album. And it's mainly country picking, with some fiery rock and roll bolted on for good measure. Which is right up my street, but which may not be to everyone's taste. It leaps about from country swing to tender ballads, and even some hard rock riffing to make sure you're paying attention. The first three tracks are just fantastic, and I'm all tapped out from air guitaring along to 'Barnyard Breakdown', 'All Fired Up' and 'Bakersfield Bound'. He's no slouch at singing either, and the bonus tracks are well worth hanging around for.

Bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs once said, "I think Johnny Hiland is the most versatile guitar player I've ever heard. From Bill Monroe to Eddie Van Halen, he can play it all." Find out for yourself.

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