Biographies are about what musical gift this or that particular musician or band has to offer. Few of them cover the actual people they are meant to introduce. To get the fullest picture, you need to know about the person, and not just their music. George Clark Shifflett, III was born to George and Ruth (neé Laurin) Shifflett in Virginia in 1971. His hometown of Orange, like so many other small southern towns that seem to have stepped off the pages of a Margaret Mitchell novel, provided the contextual backdrop for the rest of his life. It was in this little town that he learned the value of faith, family, and loyalty. The sounds of the Stanley Brothers, George Jones, the Osbourne Brothers, Merle Haggard, and the Country Gentlemen filled his home.He loved music from an early age; he loved good songs, and good singers. His first recording was made at the tender age of 4, with his father providing back-up. Snoopy and the Red Baron was the tune. After he sang, the studio engineers gave him a standing ovation. Music provided an opportunity for performance and appreciation, and that applause forged an avid appetite for both. Like other boys, he went to school and formed friendships, got into trouble, and learned about girls. Perhaps that is why around the age of 10 he decided that he wanted to learn how to play guitar. After all, girls love musicians. His first guitar was a Sigma Model GCS3. It is strangely fitting that the model number of his first guitar matched his initials exactly.George dabbled with several instruments including guitar, mandolin, piano, bass, and brass instruments generally. In time, he focused primarily on singing, guitar, and piano. Family “get-togethers” and church were the venues for his first regular performances, and he never missed an opportunity to get out the guitar and sing. At the age of approximately 14, he started appearing on stage in bands; his first foray into that world was with Southwind, a local, semi-professional country favorite. From there he joined the Desert Wind Band on piano, back-up band for child prodigy Kim Sigler. In 1990, he went on the road with Ironbridge, a multi-regional show band as back-up singer and multi-instrumentalist. The most important change in his life came in 1992 when he met the lady that would become his wife, Diane Lynn Sutton. Along the way, they had two daughters, Lauren and Claryssa.Life is demanding, and with two children to feed, he had to get a “real job;” he pondered the irony in that expression; the life of an itinerant musician, while low in pay, is anything but easy or fake. He formed Dixie Flyer in 1993, his own part-time country band; his heart, however, was decidedly full-time. With Dixie Flyer he warmed the stage for Confederate Railroad, Highway 101, Randy Travis, and The Mavericks. In 1996, they won the Jimmy Dean/True Value Talent Showcase for the Metro DC area, defeating over 150 other bands. In 1995, he penned five songs on the band’s eponymously-titled debut album. Along the way he worked construction, sold cars, installed wood and coal stoves, and was an insurance agent.Encouraged by the reception that project received, in 2001, George and his family moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he was offered a publishing contract with a small publisher. After parting company with them in 2005, he released his first recorded bluegrass project, Back Home, featuring several of his original songs, on the now defunct CGS Records label, pseudonymously as George Clark. Some folks call him George; others call him Clark. Either is fine. He also brought in a little money singing studio demos.No one could say that he didn’t try, but the pay was still low and the demands of family dictated his next move which was to go back to school. Through the next few years, George intentionally stifled his musical pursuits because he wrongly believed that his academic success depended on people not knowing about his musical past. During these years he played only occasionally outside of his home. In short, he hung it up to focus on graduating. In 2008 he got an undergraduate degree from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Then in 2012, he graduated from the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama; that same year he received his law license to practice in the State of Tennessee. His law practice includes criminal defense, family law, and some personal injury.And then something changed. In the fall of 2010, while in the academic throws of law school, he was introduced to banjo virtuoso Donnie Allen by Jon Martin, a brilliant mandolin player and mutual friend. The three played together along with Carl Caldwell (upright) and Jackie Miller (fiddle), forces of nature in their own right, at what can best be described as a block party, and the show was fantastic! If the whistle had gone dry in the past few years, it was now wet again, and he wanted to play. It was his wife that noticed his creative angst, and who suggested that he start playing out again. His opportunity came in 2014 when Donnie called and suggested they start playing a weekly show at Courtney’s, a musical venue and restaurant in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. From there, it started up again. With Donnie, Carl (now on mandolin), and bassist Brad Benge, they formed the Backwoods Barristers, a play on words related to George’s new career. On occasion, fiddler Craig Fletcher joins in the fun.With all that has changed since those first years in Orange, Virginia, it is no coincidence that George focuses on the traditional side of music. He is at home with bluegrass. He is at home with his band-mates. He devotes his time between the two bands now; the"Backwoods Barristers" predominate with their weekly shows, festivals, and private venues. He appears annually with"Dixie Flyer" at the Mineral Bluegrass Festival in Mineral, Virginia. Come see how old and new converge. Songs of life, love, and loss are his favorites. If you read this far along, you should have a good picture of the man. Now you have the opportunity to learn about his music.