Guitarist Johnny Hiland grew up in a trailer home in Woodland, ME, and took to the guitar at a young age. At the age of eight, he joined his family's band, the Three Js, and two years later won the Talent America contest, earning him a performance in New York City. In high school, his broadened his musical tastes beyond the country and bluegrass to include rock guitar of players like Joe Satriani and Eddie Van Halen. After high school, he attended the University of Southern Maine as a history major, but ultimately dropped out to become a professional musician.

In 1996, he moved to Nashville, where he quickly attracted attention at local clubs. He soon became the first unsigned artist in Nashville to receive an endorsement deal from Fender musical instruments. After his manager left a short snippet from one of his demos on Steve Vai's voice mail, Vai called back to offer Hiland a deal with his Favored Nations label. After a couple of years trial-and-error, Hiland's first album of original country and rock guitar instrumentals was released in August 2004. Today, Hiland is one of Nashville’s busiest session players, recording with artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Toby Keith, Randy Travis, Janie Fricke, and Lynn Anderson.