From the 1960s until the 1980s, George Mitchell traveled throughout the South and recorded blues musicians such as Jessie Mae Hemphill, Fred McDowell, Johnny Woods, George Henry Bussey, Jim Bunkley, Charlie Burse, Will Shade, Gus Cannon, Joe Callicott, John Lee Ziegler, Jimmy Lee Williams, Furry Lewis, Houston Stackhouse, R.L. Burnside, and Sleepy John Estes. His first recordings, in 1962, included Lewis, Cannon, Shade, and others in Memphis. Over the years, more than 100 of Mitchell’s field recordings have been released on labels such as Arhoolie, Flyright, Rounder, Fat Possum, and others to critical acclaim. In addition, Mitchell has written three books about his experiences and his field recordings. His photographs of blues musicians from Tennessee, Georgia, Chicago, Mississippi, and Alabama are well known and acclaimed, and his photographs of Mississippi Hill Country blues musicians have been exhibited at the Mississippi Museum of Art and at other locations.
