Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders. The term is applied not only to those working in contemporary musical styles such as rock, jazz, country, R&B and pop but also classical music. Versatility is one of the most important skills of session musicians as they may have to perform in a range of different settings. Session musicians are expected to learn parts rapidly and be skilled in both sight reading and ear training.

Session musicians are used in any situation where musical skills are needed on a short-term basis. Typically session musicians are used by recording studios to provide backing tracks for other musicians in recording studios and live performances; recording for advertising, film and television; or theatrical productions.

The terms "session musician" and "studio musician" are now synonymous, though in past decades the latter term more typically described musicians who were associated with a particular record company or recording studio.

Lawrence William "Larry" Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with such artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, The Partridge Family, The Doors, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s band, Bread.

Born in Bell, California, in 1940, Knechtel's musical education began with piano lessons. In 1957, he joined the Los Angeles based rock and roll band Kip Tyler and the Flips. In August 1959 he joined instrumentalist Duane Eddy as a member of his band The Rebels. After four years on the road with the band, and continuing to work with Eddy in the recording studio, Knechtel became part of the Hollywood session musician scene, working with Phil Spector as a pianist to help create the famous Wall of Sound effect. Knechtel became a prominent member of The Wrecking Crew, a loose collection of session musicians who performed on many songs of the period.

His most famous piano work is his 1970 Grammy Award winning contribution to "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. In addition to this ballad, he could also rock out on the keyboards, as evidenced by his effort on Johnny Rivers' 1972 hit "Rockin' Pneumonia - Boogie Woogie Flu", originally done by Huey "Piano" Smith.

Joe Osborn (born August 28, 1937 in Mound, Madison Parish, Louisiana)^{[citation needed]} is an American bass guitar player known for his work as a session musician in Los Angeles and Nashville during the 1960s through the 1980s.

Osborn began his career working in local clubs, then played on a hit record by singer Dale Hawkins.^{[citation needed]} He moved to Las Vegas at age 20, and spent a year playing backup for country singer Bob Luman. With legendary guitar player Roy Buchanan among his bandmates, Osborn switched from guitar to electric bass. In 1960, with Allen "Puddler" Harris, a native of Franklin Parish, also in northeastern Louisiana, and James Burton, originally from Webster Parish, he joined pop star Rick Nelson's backup band, where he spent four years. His playing on such Nelson hits as "Travellin' Man" began attracting wider notice, and he found opportunities to branch out into studio work with artists such as Johnny Rivers.

When the Nelson band dissolved in 1964, Osborn turned to studio work full-time. For the next ten years, he was considered a "first-call" bassist among Los Angeles studio musicians (known as The Wrecking Crew), and he worked with well-known producers such as Lou Adler and Bones Howe, frequently in combination with drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel. His bass can be heard on many of the hit records cut in Los Angeles during that time, along with numerous film scores and television commercials.

Johnny Hiland is an American musician. He began as a bluegrass player, and then went on to play jazz, blues and heavy metal.

Hiland grew up in Woodland, Maine. He was born with nystagmus, a condition of involuntary eye movement.

In 1996, Hiland moved to Nashville and worked as a session musician for country artists including Toby Keith, Ricky Skaggs, Janie Fricke, and Hank Williams III. Hiland signed with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label as a solo artist. The Johnny Hiland Band has released two studio albums on the Favored Nations label.^{[citation needed]}

Besides guitar, Hiland also plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin.

Hiland also works as a motivational speaker as well as a children's author. Hiland's first children's book. Tuff the Special Bear, which he wrote and illustrated, was published in 2006. In December of 2010, Hiland became partners with Jason Macedo (guitarist) as magazine partner in The Sound Guitar Magazine.. In, 2011 Johnny signed with Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records.

Originally a dedicated Fender Telecaster player, in 1998 Hiland became the first unsigned artist to ever be awarded an endorsement deal from Fender. In 2007 Paul Reed Smith and Hiland collaborated to design a Johnny Hiland Signature model guitar based on some of the technical specifications of many of Hiland's favorite session instruments. He recently endorsed the "Nashville Special Elite" guitar built by Abraham Wechter of Wechter Guitars.