Every season has a feeling to it, and George Winston listens to those feelings and turns them into music.

I view all of my music in terms of seasons, he said. It is hard to describe, but the different times of year have a certain feel to it, and I am trying to explore them through music.

This acclaimed musician has made a name for himself on the piano, with a series of albums called Autumn, Winter into Spring, December, Summer, and Forest throughout the 80’s. As the titles suggest the music explores the different styles and textures each season and feeling has to offer.

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It started happening around 1973 when I was listening to different Christmas carols, he said. I realized that those songs had a Christmas feel to it, and I began to think in terms of songs that made me think of other seasons and the different times of years.

Winston said this is not something he tried to do, but instead it just seemed to happen naturally.

I did not start playing this way for any tangible reason, it just seemed to kind of happen that way, he said. I don’t think of it as any particular style, I just play the way I want to play and this is what happened.

Another interesting aspect is that Winston plays a lot of the works written by Vince Guaraldi, who is famous for writing the songs heard in the Peanuts cartoons.

It is funny because I never really incorporated any of Guaraldi’s style into my own, but I really like to play his pieces, he said. All of the cartoons of Charlie Brown have a distinct feel to them because they are shown at Christmas, Halloween, and other times of the year so they have their own feeling as well that I think really comes across.

Winston, besides performances on the piano, has turned his attention lately to the Hawaiian guitar, slack-key.

Slack-key is not that well known, but when I heard it I knew that was what I wanted, he said. When I first heard it, it reminded me of spring-time in Montana for some reason, and I said to myself that this was the sound I was looking for.

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Winston describes the sound of slack-key as a blending of many different types of styles that are hard to describe. He said that it has a very familiar feel to it, and at the same time it may sound a little different.

Winston has taken his guitar performing to different levels by providing the background music for the narrative children’s book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr.

The company wanted me to do the project, so I wrote some original songs for the narrative, he said. I liked doing the project, and I would like to do more, but touring takes up so much of my time.

My concert this weekend is going to consist of some of my songs from my albums, as well as songs from Guaraldi and a few songs on the guitar, he said. I get up and play the way I feel, which goes along with the time of year, so the audience should expect to hear something with a very winter feel to it.

George Winston will perform at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center in the Town Square in Marion at 8 p.m. Nov. 17. Tickets are $16 and are available at the Civic Center box office, Byassee Keyboard in Marion and at Disc Jockey in Carbondale. You can help local non-profit organizations by bringing a non-perishable food item to the concert. For more information call 997-4030.