George found a home playing guitar on countless sessions, including Andrea Bensmiller, among others. In addition to long hours in various studios, he spent many nights gigging around Boston. As a member of the "house band" for the Berklee singer-songwriter showcase, George has backed a wide variety of talent including Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

"Those were fun times, and I learned much more than I ever knew back then. Getting to play with people like Gillian was a gift, one that I've come to appreciate over the years. And it sent me back to the proverbial woodshed..."

While at Berklee, George started honing his writing, finding himself inspired by the diverse musical environment.

"Berklee was an amazing growing place for me. I was exposed to stuff I had never heard before, and I found myself writing more and more. I grew up alot there, mentally and musically."

After Berklee, George built a project studio and spent countless hours writing, recording, re-writing, re-recording songs over and over.

"I was writing more country style stuff, I took trips to Nashville, considered moving there, but never did. On one of the trips I met Craig Kramph, who produced Melissa Etheridege's first album and I really got into her stuff. In hindsight I'm glad I stayed in Boston, as I'm really happy with the style of stuff I'm doing now. I sorta came into the folk world through the country door, folk and country have similar roots."

"I started hearing people like Ellis Paul, The Story (Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball), Patty Larkin, and a whole bunch of other local people, and I knew the direction I wanted to head in."

A new day job introduced him to Linda Sharar, an up and coming Boston area singer-songwriter.

"Linda helped kinda push me out of my studio and into the coffeehouses and clubs. I had been writing all this stuff, but had no real outlets for it. I went to see her play one night, and decided I needed to do this, after years of not performing, I got that 'performing bug' back."

George soon found himself playing Open Mikes regularly which lead to opening and headlining shows in and around Boston.

Recent performances include Java Jo's in Milton, The Acton Jazz Cafe, Carmen Verandas in Bar Harbor ME, The Colonial Inn in Concord, Club Passim in Cambridge, The Casual Cup in Brookline, and the now defunct Cafe Liberty.

In June of 1997, George began work on his debut CD 'Storytelling...' at Soundworks studios in Watertown with longtime friend Bill Farrar. The CD took shape over the summer and fall of 97 and was released in December.

"I'm real proud of Storytelling, it's got some great people on it who helped shape the songs into a collection that is far better than I had envisioned. I'm really grateful for everyone's contributions."

Storytelling features 14 original songs and one cover, 'Message in a Bottle' by the Police. A wide variety of material is presented, with guest appearances from several Boston area musicians. Storytelling is available at most Boston area record stores and on the Internet at www.folkweb.com and at www.cdalley.com

George will be playing in support of Storytelling throughout 1998.

"I really couldn't be happier right now, the Boston folk scene is great, I've met so many incredible people that it just keeps pushing me to want to do more."