Meet Hallam George | Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hallam George and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hallam, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
Although I was born in London, England, I grew up in the city of Columbia, Missouri from ages two to seventeen. Missouri, with all its rural charm, rolling pastures, enchanting caves, and powerful rivers, seldom shows up on the front page of the newspaper for anything good. I grew up around a lot of people — family, especially — that shared very different views than I did: we disagreed on politics, religion, sex, sexuality… the list goes on. I learned to use this as a tool for myself, a constant lesson in loving someone through disagreement; this is especially crucial when it comes to family. The ability to show compassion through tension, and a willingness to peacefully hear a second opinion — and in turn peacefully disagree with it — is a lifelong skill, and I’m very grateful to have started to develop it.

Growing up in the Midwest and along the river also made an impact on my musicianship: my songwriting and performances always have an undeniable hint of country, Americana, folk, and roots music in them.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a songwriter, guitar player, producer, and teacher that likes to dabble in everything he can touch. Growing up I played saxophones and clarinet in concert and jazz band, and I’ve been fronting my own rock bands since age fourteen. Having started down that path from a pretty young age, by high school I knew that music was what I wanted to do with my life. I applied for Berklee School of Music, and after graduating a year early from high school — oh, how I hated it — I moved to Boston. I loved college, and while I learned masses, I didn’t make as many connections as I should’ve. Although this is partly due to my introverted nature, COVID also sent me home to Missouri to learn digitally for over a year during my fourth semester, and I don’t think that helped matters very much. Upon moving to New York City, it’s been hard to expand my circle much further than it already is, and I believe that that is one of the big challenges holding me back professionally.

Throughout school, I always doubted what it was I was truly aiming to achieve. After I graduated I drifted for a while, unsure what to focus on or where I wanted to go. It was then I decided to begin freelance guitar lessons out of my home studio, which has proven to be incredibly fulfilling, and something I’m working to build in tandem to my other career as an artist and songwriter.

This where the real passion is; I love teaching, but the songwriting, performing, recording, and releasing is what simultaneously keeps me up at night and gets me out of bed in the morning. Over the course of my last semesters at school, I wrote and recorded my debut album with my friends and classmates in the Berklee studios. This past July I finally released the first single, “Virtue”, from that album with a second and third single coming in the following weeks, with the album itself — “Mishaps” — releasing in late September. I am incredibly excited about this project — I think it showcases a lot of different sides of me, while remaining cohesive and exciting. Stay tuned for “Mishaps” from Hallam George in September 2024, with more to come soon after!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Living in New York City makes weekend planning a breeze. I am lucky enough to share a MoMA membership with my sister, so going there is a no-brainer, as well as the Met, which allows residents to pay what they wish. A little known Met hack is that the main museum has a sister location called the Cloisters up in Harlem, which is VERY cool and is worth a visit. For my more ambitious and athletic friends, there would be walks across the Brooklyn Bridge, through Prospect and Central Park, and maybe even a trip to my gym. For all friends, athletic or not, there would be at least one chopped cheese per visit, because as a transplant I am obligated to adore the chopped cheese. We would go to Bar Bayeaux — a spot I am SO tempted to gatekeep — on Nostrand Ave to watch spectacular live jazz and drink delicious, reasonably-priced cocktails. If it’s basketball season we’d go to a Nets game (woo!), and of course we’d have to find out who’s throwing parties that week (even though getting to Bushwick from my place is a pain).

There’s a lot to learn about this amazing city, so a lot of what I do with my visitors is explore right alongside them. It feels like every time I step outside, something insane happens in one way or another!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am incredibly grateful to my parents and grandparents, who through unending support, love, and guidance have allowed me to be where I am today. I could go on about this for a while but I don’t want to get too soppy — I would be nowhere without Buddy, Nancy, Alison, Julian, Alex, Chris, and also Alex. I love you all!

My mentor Loyd Warden nurtured me musically and personally through the torture that was high school, and helped me get into my dream college, Berklee School of Music. He taught me more than I knew there was to learn at the time, and to this day continues to open doors for me, my friends, and my colleagues.

Once I got to Berklee, guitar wisdom from the likes of Sal DiFusco and Bob Stanton had me coming back to them for multiple semesters to learn as much as I could, and I still practice, use and teach what they taught me to this day.

I am grateful to all of my collaborators, musical and non-musical, but among them Mickey Jamieson (who actually recommended me for this interview) stands out. Mickey is my bass player, co-writer, mix, master, and recording engineer, vocal producer, photographer, designer, idea-listener, and — bless his heart — my roommate. The train that is Hallam George Music would move a lot slower without his endless support and creativity.

Lastly, I’m grateful to all those people I don’t know out there who stream my music — if you’re reading this, just know that it makes my heart very warm. Thank you very much.

Website: https://www.hallamgeorge.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hallam.george/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hallam-george-052a6a231/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hallam.george/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnP1E76DZJtqeLFLCqnQ2dg

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@hallam.george?lang=en

Image Credits
Mickey Jamieson