The story of Windham Hill Records is both a story of success, and a cautionary tale. From its emergence in the heart of Silicon Valley in 1976 as a tiny independent label for co-founder WILL ACKERMAN's ironically low-tech solo acoustic guitar music, it became the poster child for the emerging genre that was eventually dubbed New Age by the record industry ten years later.
Described as "instrumental, acoustic, and mellow," with high quality analogue recordings on vinyl and tasteful minimalist graphics, Windham Hill got distribution from one of the major labels, expanded its roster with kindred acoustic artists like pianist GEORGE WINSTON and guitarist MICHAEL HEDGES, and went on to sell millions of records.
So...success, but there's a big difference between music, and the music business. The pressure was intense, and Will Ackerman wasn't happy. He never wanted to be a corporate record executive, so he sold his half of the company in 1992 and retired to a farm in rural Vermont.
That would normally be the end of the story, but Ackerman was still relatively young and wanted to get back to making music. So he built a recording studio on the property, teamed up with ace engineers CORIN NELSEN and TOM EATON, and began to record and produce other acoustic artists. A few years later he started another independent label, but this time — he stayed independent.
And that's where the story takes a creative turn. In over twenty years of working with hundreds of compatible musicians, Ackerman began to collaborate as an acoustic guitarist as well as a producer, which led to participation in instrumental "supergroups" like FLOW (in 2019) with trumpeter JEFF OSTER, guitarist LAWRENCE BLATT, pianist FIONA JOY HAWKINS, and triple-threat artist-engineer-producer TOM EATON; and (in 2021) with JEFF OSTER and TOM EATON in BROTHERS.
On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we feature music from BROTHERS and congenial acoustic and electro-acoustic artists, on a program called KINDRED SPIRITS. It's about finding your true artistic family. Music is by WILL ACKERMAN, JEFF OSTER & TOM EATON, TOM EATON solo, RUSSELL WALDER, TIM STORY, LAURENCE FURR, and ECHO COLLECTIVE.
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