Biography

Acoustic guitarist Terry Mitchell performed in and around the Mid-South in the 1980s and 90s, but took a break from performing while working as a mathematician and technical writer for Lockheed Martin.  Finally finished with that gig, he has returned to studying, writing, and performing instrumental guitar music.  Mitchell studied classical and flamenco guitar with G. Ricardo Fusco in Memphis from 1976 until Mr. Fusco’s death in 1984.  He served as Artist-in-Residence for the city of Germantown, Tennessee (1987-88) and as a touring artist for the Tennessee Arts Commission (1989-92).  He joined Actor’s Equity while performing the role of Burl in Smoke On The Mountain in 1991 at Stages Theater in Houston, where he also served as bass section leader for Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church and studied flamenco guitar with Valdemar Phoenix. Mitchell plays contemporary fingerstyle guitar music (Leo Kottke, Adrian Legg) as well as classical pieces by Bach, Villa-Lobos, Albeniz, and others.  He sometimes plays acoustic pieces by Jimmy Page or Steven Stills but has also explored renaissance lute music and works from Central and South America.  His first CD, Good Touch, was released in 2014 and accepted by Pandora (www.pandora.com/terry-j-mitchell).  Featured on this CD are 5 original works, one of which (Goodbye, Sexy Carol) won the Texas Songwriting Contest in 1992 in the Jazz category.  Another original, Mine/Her Dance, was featured on the 2014 Acoustic Sampler from Oasis and has received airplay on various FM and internet radio stations.  More recently he has discovered the guitar music of Jorge Morel while working to “finish all the stuff I started years ago.”