Troy McLawhorn (born 1968 in Fayetteville, North Carolina) is an American guitarist and songwriter, known primarily for his long tenure with Evanescence, which he first joined in 2007 and officially rejoined 2011. Before that, he co‑founded doubleDrive in 1996, releasing two albums. He later was a core member of Dark New Day, which achieved success with their debut "Twelve Year Silence". In between, he played lead guitar for Seether, contributing to songs like "Country Song" (co‑written by Troy) before departing in 2011. He worked with great producers (e.g. Nick Raskulinecz, Brendan O'Brien) and "tried to learn as much as I could from them."

Bluesy rock riffs

Troy's guitar style blends heavy metal and power rock riffs with melodic rhythm work. Influenced by Eddie Van Halen, Kiss and Led Zeppelin, he combines classic rock power with subtle modern effects and rich sonic textures. He favors tube amps and 4x12 cabinets (especially by Orange) and values human feel and spontaneity in the studio rather than polished digital perfection. Although he always played in hard rock bands, he has a bluesy style and often includes a pentatonic scale and lots of string bending in his play: "That's naturally the way I play and it feels good to me."