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... An amazing touch, killer tone and a sense of taste
that can't be beat."
-Vintage Guitar Magazine
Biography:
1952 - Born in East Tennessee
1955 - Totaled his first car (Buick) at age three....
1956 - Saw Elvis on TV... took up the ukelele.
1961 - Took up sister's Stella guitar after his ukelele was smashed over his behind by his father...
1985 - Won the Winfield National Guitar Championship on a Japanese Martin copy guitar, with bar-b-q sauce on his fingers...
1995 - Found out about his GRAMMY award while in a cheap motel room in Utah.
He isn't your typical fingerstyle guitar hero.
Applauded by critics and guitar enthusiasts alike for
his composition, tone, emotion and smooth "multi-part"
style, Tennessee guitarist Bill Mize is a past winner
of The National Finger- style Guitar Competition at
The Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.
Guitar Player Magazine has labeled this event the
“U.S. Open of guitar competitions.
Bill recieved a Grammy Award for his collaboration
with David Holt on the recording Stellaluna, as well
as being featured on the popular
guitar compilations Windham Hill Guitar Sampler by
Windham Hill Records and Masters of the Acoustic
Guitar by Narada Records. John August Music/Mel Bay
Productions have transcribed Mize's second cd, Tender
Explorations, into a songbook.
Bill is a frequent clinician / performer at guitar
festivals including the
Healdsburg Guitar Festival in California, The Newport
Guitar Festival in RI, Swannanoa Gathering in North
Carolina, and Steve
Kaufmann's Guitar Camp in Tennessee. His original
music is difficult to peg, but has been described as
varying from delicate appalachian highland melodies to
greasy Memphis grooves.
"Dale Miller of Acoustic Guitar Magazine
writes"...Mize's tone is lovely and his technique is
state-of-the-art. He combines form and substance to
create music so sublime and accessible I was almost
sighing out loud.
.....
Stephen Ide of Dirty Linen Magazine writes "... To
call
Mize guitar maestro would be understating his ability
to transport listeners beyond what most guitarists can
only hope to accomplish."
.....
Bill Milkowski of Jazziz Magazine writes "... Mize's
touch is magic. His ideas flow in rapid succession
throughout this acoustic guitar showcase. “
.....
Besides the Windham Hill and Narada recordings, Bill
has four independent releases available, Sugarlands,
Tender Explorations, Coastin' and his recently
released Joyful Noise, described by Vintage Guitar
Magazine as “ ten songs of pure joy”.
Performing with Bill is Beth Bramhall, an
accordionist, pianist and composer from Missoula,
Montana. Aaron Bragg of the Local Planet writes...
“with the addition of Bramhall on accordion, Mize’s
style takes on an even more sublime sound. That’s
right: “sublime” and “accordion” in the same
sentence...” .
www.billmize.com
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