| William Ackerman was born in West Germany but adopted by a couple who lived in Palo Alto, California.Robbie Basho, Ackerman grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.He attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School and Stanford University.Before finishing his studies at Stanford, Ackerman dropped out to become a carpenter.Mantra Studios (it was the 70s after all!William Ackerman, liner notes for Returning, 2005).Initially William Ackerman kept up his job as a builder but recording music took up more of his time until he was working on music full time.He did just about everything from picking cover art to producing the records.Early albums featured himself (It Takes a Year) and his cousin, fellow guitarist Alex de Grassi Turning: Turning Back 1978.This record was well reviewed in Rolling Stone Magazine and, as a result of this national exposure the record began selling in large numbers.His marriage ended in divorce and he eventually moved out of the Bay Area and across the country back to his old residence near Brattleboro, Vermont in Windham County.Life in Vermont away from the record business proved enjoyable and so Ackerman sold the remainder of his stake in Windham Hill Records in 1996.He currently lives in Brattleboro and produces music from his nearby studio Imaginary Road.William Ackerman's musical influences are Erik Satie, John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke.William Ackerman has told an anecdote about his musical debt to John Fahey.One of his early pieces of music sounded a great deal like a Fahey composition and so he visited Fahey, asked him if he thought the music was too similar, and played him the tune.On guitar tunings, William Ackerman has said that none of his songs use the standard guitar tuning.In addition to discovering George Winston, William Ackerman's other great discovery was Michael Hedges.Hedges and Ackerman performed concerts together for several years in the early 1980s and played together on one of William Ackerman's albums.Some other notable artists he produced: Liz Story and Shadowfax.He has recorded many artists in his personal recording studio, Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont.Bone" Wolk, Michael Hedges, Preston Reed, Eugene Friesen, Happy Rhodes, Samite, Tom Bodett, Jeff Pearce, Jeff Oster, Dana Cunningham, Zade Dirani, Martin Sexton and Karen Hesse.Of late, William Ackerman focuses on producing other musicians and performing in select, few concerts.Mostly solo guitar, a few duets.George Winston), a few solo guitar pieces.Mostly duets (including one with Michael Hedges).Mostly duets and some trios.Mostly duets and trios, several pieces with electric guitar and electric keyboard.All songs feature the human voice, many different singers were used.Trivia
Before starting his own record label, William Ackerman sent a copy of the music for his first album to several other record labels, including John Fahey's Takoma Records.He was rejected by all of them.Several years later John Fahey wrote back a short letter saying "Dear Will, I've reconsidered..."Ackerman at the Windham Hill 30th Anniversary Concert).This page was last modified 13:30, 5 January 2008.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.See Copyrights for details.Almost every piece has its own tuning
and a rather lengthy list has evolved over the years.The process becomes one of discovery rather than composition
and relies more on the emotions than intellect.There are rare situations where the pitch of a song may be different
than what is on a CD.Where a capo is used (in almost all cases), the note
values are for the open notes with the capo on.There are many pieces for which I have lost the tuning.DelegateListener('yuimenuitem', 'hd', 'click', YAHOO.Rating affects your music played in LAUNCHcast and Music Videos.William Ackerman has gained prominence both as a musician and a businessman, and at least one of those occupations seems to have been unintentional.Though Ackerman has played guitar since the age of 12, when he dropped out of college it was to become a carpenter, and his first company was called Windham Hill Builders.But Ackerman composed guitar music for Stanford University theater productions, and the encouragement of friends led him to record an album of his tunes, The Search for the Turtle's Navel, in 1976.The album was surprisingly successful, and Ackerman found himself in the music business.Since then, Ackerman has continued to record his own albums, to produce Windham Hill albums for such other artists as George Winston, Alex de Grassi, and Liz Story, and to serve in various capacities in the record company.R, the liaison between a record company and its artists.William Ackerman (read more)
62,030 plays scrobbled on Last.He founded and ran for many years the influential new age record label Windham Hill Records.Born in West Germany, he was adopted by a couple who lived in Palo Alto, California.After attending Stanford University, Ackerman dropped out to become a carpenter.William Ackerman, liner notes for 'Returning,' 2005).Ackerman ran his Windham Hill Records for years.He did just about everything from picking cover art to producing the records.Early albums featured himself ('It Takes a Year') and his cousin, fellow guitarist Alex de Grassi's 'Turning: Turning Back' (1978).Add this track to your playlist
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