listen to a
sample of 'Love Lifted Me' played on his McElroy Standard
Bill with his McElroy, during a visit we made to his home in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee.
Bill trying out a new guitar during a recent visit to the shop
Fingerstyle guitarist and composer, Mize appeared with the emerging acoustic guitar movement in the 1980s (by way of the Windham Hill Guitar Sampler and the Winfield Guitar Competition), and has continued to developed a style and sense of taste that influences many of today's guitarists.
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's music is featured on the Grammy-winning recording, Stellaluna, as well as 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, and several guitar magazines have published some of Mize's arrangements and original compositions. Bill tours nationwide and is a frequent clinician / performer at guitar camps including the Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina, and Steve Kaufmann's Guitar Camp in Tennessee.
While Mize has drawn inspiration from legends of soul, jazz, folk and rock, his original music is more difficult to peg. It has been described as varying from delicate Appalachian highland melodies executed with classical sensitivity, to greasy Memphis grooves, performed in such a smooth yet syncopated fashion, you'd swear there was another guitarist on stage. Rather than only rely on wowing with his impressive "chops", Bill draws an audience in with his composition, emotion and tone. (He does let the fingers fly every now and then!)
Bill Mize's Guitar
Standard model
Adirondack Red Spruce/ Indian Rosewood
Snakewood binding, Amboinia burl rosette, Ebony headstock overlay