George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana, and Mississippi. He is a graduate of Stetson University in Deland, Florida and lives in San Francisco, California. Many of his pieces, self-described as "Rural Folk Piano", evoke the essence of a season and reflect natural landscapes. He performs in the new age genre. He also is known for his tribute album of Vince Guaraldi's compositions for the Peanuts animations. George Winston was first recorded by John Fahey for Fahey's Takoma Records. The album Ballads and Blues disappeared without much notice. However, in 1979, William Ackerman talked with Winston about having Winston record for Ackerman's new record label - Windham Hill Records. At first George Winston played some slack-key guitar pieces he liked and then he played some of his nighttime music on the piano which became the basis for the record Autumn, which Ackerman produced. George Winston has described the music on Autumn as "Christmas carols for Halloween". Autumn was well-reviewed in Rolling Stone magazine in 1980 and it suddenly became the best-selling record in the Windham Hill.