William Troy McLawhorn (born 4 November 1968) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who has been a guitarist, backing vocalist, and songwriting partner in the bands Evanescence, Seether, Dark New Day, doubleDrive, Still Rain, and Gibraltar.

Early Career

McLawhorn was formerly of the bands Seether, doubleDrive, and Still Rain. After the demise of his first band, Still Rain, McLawhorn helped form doubleDrive in 1996 and landed a recording contract with MCA records in 1998. They scored a top 20 hit with the song “Tattooed Bruise” from their debut album 1000 Yard Stare. The band left MCA and signed a new deal with Roadrunner Records in 2001 and released their second album, Blue in the Face, with the song “Imprint” reaching into the top 20 also. McLawhorn was an active member until December 2003, when the band broke up. Following this, he joined Corey Lowery and Will Hunt and they began working on new material, which would later become the band Dark New Day, which also included Clint Lowery and Brett Hestla. Dark New Day signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records in late 2004 and released the album Twelve Year Silence. The single “Brother” became a top 10 hit.

Evanescence/Seether

In May 2007, McLawhorn was announced as the replacement for Evanescence’s former guitarist John LeCompt, and played with the band through their The Open Door tour, which ended in December 2007. He remained active with Dark New Day while playing with Evanescence.[1] However, McLawhorn eventually left Dark New Day in mid-2008 after joining Seether as a touring guitarist. After the success of Seether’s subsequent tour, McLawhorn became their official lead guitarist.

From then until early March 2011, McLawhorn did various tours with Seether. He took part in recording with the band on projects such as Seether iTunes Originals, Rhapsody Originals, and on covers of Wham!’s “Careless Whisper” and Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” as well. He also contributed to the album Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray. The first single from the record, “Country Song”, co-written by McLawhorn, was released in the United States on 8 March 2011.

The same day, it was announced that McLawhorn had left Seether to pursue other interests. McLawhorn made the following statement on Facebook:

“Thanks for all of the support. You guys are great! I really enjoyed playing and creating music with the guys and I wish that I didn’t have to leave especially now that the album that we worked so hard on is finally coming out. It was a hard decision and I wish them the best. I hope that I will see all of you when I find my next project.”

On 8 April 2011, Seether frontman Shaun Morgan took to his Twitter account to vent his frustrations regarding Troy’s still unconfirmed new gig. The next day, McLawhorn further explained his departure on Facebook:

“You know…I have been laying low because I didn’t want my departure from Seether to be any more dramatic than it has to be but I can’t sit by while people come to my site and trash me. There are a lot of people who have been very supportive and I appreciate that so much. As for the haters…I can understand that people are passionate about their bands and the music. I am, too. That’s why even when I was barely able to survive financially in this business I never quit because I genuinely love to play music with my friends. My leaving Seether was not about money at all. Ask yourselves this, why would I leave the band after we had just finished making an awesome record? Why? I was as excited as anyone to get out there and support it. I am losing money by leaving the band. You have to know that it was a very personal invasion of trust that led me to make my decision to leave. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a vindictive person and I am just trying to find a place that I can be long term and play music with people that I can trust.”

On 12 June 2011, Amy Lee of Evanescence announced on her Twitter account that McLawhorn had officially rejoined the band for their upcoming tour and new album due out on 11 October 2011.

McLawhorn filled in for Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery on their 2013 tour with Coal Chamber