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Hometown: Austin, TX, USA

Influences: Jimi Hendrix, Weather Report, Wes Montgomery

Website: http://mitchwatkins.com

Our Story:

Mitch Watkins is a very eclectic guitarist/composer with influences that range from the Ventures to Varese. His music, most often seen in the jazz section, is a blend of styles that defies categorization. He is also a producer, educator, and sideman of choice for the likes of Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Bob Schneider.

Mitch’s journey began in McAllen, Texas, ten miles from the border at Reynosa, Mexico. “Ten miles further south, he would have been born a Mariachi musician” jokes Leonard Cohen, one of the many artists with whom Mitch has performed and recorded. He discovered the piano at age eight and took to the guitar immediately at age twelve, joining a surf band playing "Pipeline" and Ventures favorites and later Beatles and Stones tunes. Later came the "guitar hero" worship years, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and of course, Jimi Hendrix. “I was never the same after ‘Are you Experienced’”. Along with these rock leanings Mitch was also absorbing a lot of classical music (Bach, Faure, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Varese, and many others). While studying composition at the University of Texas, he became immersed in jazz guitar, and listened to the likes of Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, Jim Hall, Lenny Breau, Joe Pass, Ted Greene, Ed Bickert, Early George Benson organ trio recordings, and others.

The inevitable blend of rock and jazz, pioneered by Miles Davis in the late 1960’s, appealed to Mitch as well as more traditional jazz. Players like John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, and Weather Report provided much inspiration. Mitch, along with some fellow classmates formed a fusion group, Passenger, which became a “cult favorite” around the Austin area. A very strange series of events led them to become Leonard Cohen's touring band in 1979, where they performed with him for two tours of Europe and Australia.

Following the time with Cohen, Mitch’s playing experiences became extremely varied, a quality that he enjoys immensely. People he has performed with over the years include Joe Ely, Jennifer Warnes, K.T. Oslin, Bennie Wallace, Jack Walrath, Barbara Dennerlein, and Friedrich Gulda, as well as many local favorites around the Austin area.

Mitch currently has five CD recordings of his own to date: "Underneath it All" (Enja-1989), "Curves" (Enja-1990), "Strings with Wings" (Enja-1992), "Humhead" (Dos-1995), and “In the Time of Long Shadows” (Viewpoint 2006). He also has a CD coproduced with Austin songwriter Bob Schneider "Underneath the Onion Trees" (Shockorama-2000). He currently divides his time between performing with his own trio, producing, teaching jazz guitar at the University of Texas, and performing as a member of Lyle Lovett’s and Jerry Jeff Walker’s touring bands.

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