John Bohlinger

John Bohlinger is a Nashville multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and writer. Born in Billings, Montana, he came up playing guitar and later pedal steel, mandolin, dobro, bass, and harmonica, then spent decades as a working sideman and television music director: house band on NBC's Nashville Star, music director for the CMT Music Awards (2009–2024), and similar chairs on GAC, USA Network, and PBS specials. Onstage and in the studio he has backed artists including Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, Joe Walsh, Little Big Town, Kacey Musgraves, and the Beach Boys. Since 2013 he has been Premier Guitar's Nashville video correspondent—Rig Rundowns, review demos, and the back-page "Last Call" column on what it actually costs to keep instruments, gigs, and a living in the same room. He co-edited A Guitar and a Pen. His own collection is the working kit of a player who tours, records, and modifies: vintage pieces next to tools that have to survive a gig. He advises Gearcheck from that side of the bench—how a player actually documents a guitar between sessions, repairs, loans, and mods, and why the story only holds if the record is private, portable, and complete enough that you still know what you own when the notebook and the old hard drive are gone.