Kohrs has long been celebrated for his inventive, mood-setting work as a dobroist (that’s him providing the dramatic framework on Dierks Bentley’s No. 1 hit, “What Was I Thinking.”) But his flashes of instrumental wizardry have often diverted attention from his wider musicianship.

As a vocalist, Kohrs possesses a smooth, intense tenor that mines lyrics for the last ounce of emotion. His songwriting, while broadly classifiable as bluegrass, has the narrative drive of country and the mythic overtones of folk. He co-wrote nine of the 12 songs on Old Photograph. Moreover, he produced the ambitious project, enlisting such admiring peer musicians as Rhonda and Darrin Vincent, Scott Vestal, Don Rigsby, Jim Hurst and two-time Grammy winner Carl Jackson.

To date, Kohrs has played on more than 500 albums, ranging from those by such legends as Hank Thompson and Jerry Reed to current and recent chart-toppers Trick Pony, Dierks Bentley and The Wreckers. In the bluegrass domain, he has recorded projects for Larry Sparks, Rhonda Vincent, Mark Newton, Bradley Walker, Lou Reid, and 3 Fox Drive, among others.