Born and raised in Texas, Terry grew up in Lampasas, a small ranching community about seventy miles northwest of Austin. After receiving a guitar for his ninth birthday from his father it wasn’t long before Terry was playing in local bands and spending summers on the road with his dad, the late Dale McBride, who was a recording artist with several Billboard charted singles in the late 70’s. After high school, Terry traveled and toured as part of his father’s band for three years before moving to Austin. Terry became a sought after bass player in the local music scene and spent the next few years playing with Texas artists Lee Roy Parnell, Bill Carter and the Blame, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Johnny Duncan, Rosie Flores and a two year stint with Delbert McClinton.

In 1989, Terry travelled to Nashville and the songs he had been writing found their way to MCA President Tony Brown, who would later go on to sign Terry to a recording contract with the label. Terry’s group, McBride & The Ride, recorded four albums for MCA, racking up several top five singles over the next few years, including “Sacred Ground” a #1 Single in 1992. McBride also received two million airplay awards for his writing credits for “Just One Night” and “Going Out of my Mind.” McBride & The Ride received CMA and ACM Nominations for Vocal Group of the Year before eventually disbanding in 1995.

After McBride & the Ride disbanded, Terry began to focus most of his attention on songwriting, and through the years since has had songs cut by other artists such as Garth Brooks, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Hank Williams Jr., Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks, Alan Jackson, Trace Adkins, Easton Corbin, Lost Frequencies, Kenny Rogers, John Anderson, Cole Swindell, Jim Lauderdale, Chase Bryant, Clare Dunn, Ricky Van Shelton, Jack Ingram, George Ducas, David Ball, Casey James, Wade Hayes, Gretchen Wilson, Andy Griggs, Jedd Hughes, Jason Michael Carroll, James Otto, Gord Bamford, Emerson Drive and Rosie Flores. In 2004 Terry co-wrote American Idol finalist Josh Gracin’s top five single “Stay With Me/Brass Bed”. He followed that up by co-writing “Play Something Country” with Ronnie Dunn, which was the fastest rising single of Brooks and Dunn’s career and was also the final #1 song for the award winning duo. Terry has had over 25 songs recorded by Brooks & Dunn, which led to 13 singles and 12 BMI million air awards.