A prolific and genre-defying guitar player in the vein of six-string virtuosos like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Nuno Bettencourt, Chicago-born, New York City-based Joel Hoekstra is one of the hardest working players on the hard rock circuit. An in-demand session musician and touring member of Night Ranger, Whitesnake, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Hoekstra has also appeared on Broadway with the hit musical Rock of Ages (he made a cameo appearance in the big screen version as well). Hoekstra issued his debut instrumental solo album, Undefined, in 2000, followed in 2003 by the jazz fusion-driven The Moon Is Falling and the artful 13 Acoustic Songs in 2007. In 2014 he formed the largely instrumental, melodic hard rock side project Joel Hoekstra's 13, which featured an all-star cast of hard rock heavies including Jeff Scott Soto (vocals), Russell Allen (vocals), Tony Franklin (bass), Vinny Appice (drums), and Derek Sherinian (keyboards). The project's debut album, Dying to Live, was released via Frontiers Records the following year. ~ James Christopher Monger