Randy Kohrs

Randy Kohrs, a producer and country musician, first saw the world in Iowa, where he began playing acoustic guitar at the age of eight. His affinity for stringed instruments soon expanded, prompting him to take up electric guitar plus acoustic and electric Dobro, lap and pedal steel, mandolin, upright bass, and banjo under the sway of Flatt & Scruggs and Buck Owens. He subsequently supported other performers, among them Patty Loveless on a PBS Austin City Limits taping and during television appearances by Tom T. Hall, Holly Dunn, and Hal Ketchum, while also completing session work with Hank Thompson, Walter Hyatt, and Hank Williams III—an association that twice earned him Dobro Player of the Year nominations from the International Bluegrass Music Association. October 2001 brought the release of his debut solo album, A Crack in My Armour, on the Junction label. Kohrs appeared on three Dolly Parton albums, and she reciprocated by contributing vocals to his 2004 effort I’m Torn on the Lonesome Day label. Rural Rhythm Records issued Old Photograph in 2007, featuring guest vocals from American Idol contestant Melinda Doolittle; the video for its track “Who’s Goin’ with Me” reached the top of the CMT Pure Country playlist, after which an appearance on Rachel Raye’s daytime talk show broadened his audience. In 2008 Kohrs made his solo debut at the Grand Ole Opry and collected a Grammy for his work on Jim Lauderdale’s album The Bluegrass Diaries. The following year his Left of Center label put out the compilation Hornography, a tribute to guitar maker Tim Scheerhorn that presented resonator-guitar performances by Kohrs, Jimmy Ross, Rob Ickes, and fellow musicians.