George Winston grew up mainly in Montana, and also spent his later formative years in Mississippi and Florida. During this time, his favorite music was instrumental rock and instrumental R&B, including Floyd Cramer, the Ventures, Booker T & The MG’s, Jimmy Smith, and many more. Inspired by R&B, jazz, Blues and rock (especially the Doors), George began playing organ in 1967. In 1971 he switched to the acoustic piano after hearing recordings from the 1920s and the 1930s by the legendary stride pianists Thomas “Fats” Waller and the late Teddy Wilson. In addition to working on stride piano, he also at this time came up with his own style of melodic instrumental music on solo piano, called folk piano. 

Since 1972 George has released thirteen solo piano albums: AUTUMN (1980), WINTER INTO SPRING (1982), DECEMBER (1982), SUMMER (1991), FOREST (1994), LINUS & LUCY-THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI (1996), PLAINS (1999), which was inspired by his Eastern Montana upbringing, NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY - THE MUSIC OF THE DOORS (2002), MONTANA-A LOVE STORY (2004) and GULF COAST BLUES & IMPRESSIONS-A HURRICANE RELIEF BENEFIT (2006). His most recent recording are LOVE WILL COME - THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI VOL 2 (2010), and GULF COAST BLUES & IMPRESSIONS 2-A LOUISIANA WETLANDS BENEFIT (2012).
In 2001 George released REMEMBRANCE - A MEMORIAL BENEFIT, a seven song EP of piano, guitar and harmonica solos, to benefit those affected by 9/11.  He has also worked with the late George Levenson of Informed Democracy (www.informeddemocracy.com) on three projects: a solo guitar soundtrack for SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES, and soundtracks of piano, guitar and, harmonica solos for PUMPKIN CIRCLE, and BREAD COMES TO LIFE. In addition, he has recorded the solo piano soundtrack for the children’s story THE VELVETEEN RABBIT for Rabbit Ears Productions. 	

George is presently concentrating mainly on live performances, and most of the time he is touring playing solo piano concerts (the Summer Show or the Winter Show), solo guitar concerts, solo harmonica concerts, and solo piano dances (with R&B and slow dance songs). 

He is currently most inspired by the great New Orleans R&B pianists Henry Butler, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and Jon Cleary, and he is also working on interpreting pieces on solo piano by his favorite composers, including Vince Guaraldi, Professor Longhair, and the Doors, as well as Sam Cooke, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, Curtis Mayfield, Laura Nyro, Al Kooper, Jimmy Wisner, Arthur Lee, Frank Zappa, Ralph Towner, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Coltrane, Milt Jackson, John Hartford, Oliver Schroer, Taj Mahal, Henry Butler, James Booker, Jon Cleary, Philip Aaberg and others, to play at concerts, and at his solo piano dances.

George is also working on solo guitar and is recording the masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key guitar for an extensive series of albums for Dancing Cat Records (www.dancingcat.com). Slack Key is the name for the beautiful solo fingerstyle guitar tradition, unique to Hawaii, which began in the early 1800s and predated the steel guitar by over half a century. 

He is also recording his main inspirations for his harmonica playing: Sam Hinton, Rick Epping, and Curt Bouterse.

Piano: George Winston plays Steinway Pianos
Guitar: Martin D -35 (1966), with low 7th string added
Harmonica: Hohner Big Rivers & Cross Harps, key of low D


The Rural Alberta Advantage's percussive folk songs about hometowns and heartbreak, and relentless tradition of touring have taken the trio from humble recognition amongst indie rock die-hards as "Canada's best unsigned band" to sold-out tours and devoted fans around the world with featured coverage from Spin Magazine, Pitchfork, The New York Times and Rolling Stone all taking note. The band has been nominated for two 2012 Juno Awards (Best New Group and Video of the Year for their song “Stamp”), long listed for the 2011 Polaris Award, and awarded the CBC Music Prize for Best Independent Artist in 2014.

The RAA has released three albums on Saddle Creek/Paper Bag Records: Hometowns (2009), Departing (2011) and Mended With Gold (2014). The trio of Nils Edenloff, Paul Banwatt and Robin Hatch will be hitting the road for set of road testing shows to preview the new material they’ve been working on and carve out these new songs in front of their fans in a live setting before returning home to record in between each run. The tour will swing through some of the band’s favourite venues across North America and Europe throughout 2016/2017.

Some words on The Rural Alberta Advantage:

““Regardless of your tastes, if you care about drums at all, Mended With Gold is a must-listen.” –Pitchfork

“The Rural Alberta Advantage are best seen live, where their acoustic crescendos and Nils Edenloff's Jeff Mangum-esque vocal acrobatics impress most.”  -Under The Radar

“There's something that just makes you want to root for them -- as Edenloff introduced "Tornado '87", a song about a twister that ran through Edmonton, one of the many Canadian bros in attendance shouted: "I LOVE TORNADOS!" That's making a connection.” – Coachella Festival coverage, Pitchfork

“The intensity of like “Stamp” and “Don’t Haunt This Place” lean on Banwatt’s marathon-runner stamina and fills, and it’s safe to say the band’s great melodies wouldn’t sound the same without him.” – “The 10 Best New Rhythm Sections”, Paste Magazine

“The crowd sang along to all the ‘oohs’ and danced to songs like The Deadroads and Frank, AB, even demanding an encore that would never materialize in a festival like this. Will this show rate among the weekend’s best? Too early to say, but it’s a strong contender.” – Montreal Gazette at Osheaga Festival

Thom Swift Blue Sky Day (GroundSwell/Warner), set for release on February 16, 2010, is the second full studio album by multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Thom Swift. His debut recording Into the Dirt was released nationally in Sept. 2007. It won an East Coast Music Award, a Maple Blues Award, a Galaxie Rising Star prize and two Music Nova Scotia Awards in 2008. He was also selected by CBC’s Song Quest in 2009 as one of Canada’s top songwriters. Swift’s much respected musical reputation has been established with years of touring and recording with the acclaimed blues-jazz group Hot Toddy Trio. With nine albums to their credit and a career that spans over 15 years, the group has played numerous Canadian and International folk, jazz and blues festivals. Like his first recording, Blue Sky Day was produced by Swift and Halifax-based engineer/producer Charles Austin (Joel Plaskett, Buck 65, Matt Mays). Featuring 11 original songs and a cover of “No Depression In Heaven”, it offers a distinctive blend of roots, blues, rock, folk, country and rag style. Special guests on the album, include acclaimed multi-instrumentalist J.P. Cormier and blues-roots artist Matt Andersen along with Swift’s band percussionist Geoff Arsenault (Ray Bonneville, Mary Jane Lamond), Brian Bourne (Rawlins Cross) on bass and Chapman stick, guitarist Chris Corrigan (Rita MacNeil, Mary Jane Lamond) and keyboard master Bill Stevenson on piano and organ. With the release of Blue Sky Day, Swift will perform at the Olympics in Vancouver, Folk Alliance in Memphis, ECMA Concert Series in Sydney, and album release concerts in Halifax, New Glasgow, Fredericton, Saint John, Riverview, Charlottetown and Toronto.  


How slow the days moved out there in the sticks, watching the clouds, listening to the wind rustle through the oaks, the hawks circling the hay field, lost in the peace and quiet of the country too long to shake off now.

Harvest Sons is following