Will Ackerman has been making and playing meditative guitar music for more than four decades. His early days of selling his music on cassette around campus at Stanford University have led him on a winding journey that’s taken him to all corners of the globe, working with musicians across every genre, touching the hearts of fans all around the world.
The Birth and Evolution of New Age Music
Will Ackerman is a guitarist, producer, and the Founder of Windham Hill Records, which went on to become one of the most successful record labels on earth. The label launched the career of George Winston to stellar heights, as well as a great many other well-known musicians. Shadowfax, Michael Hedges, Alex De Grassi, and Liz Story among them.
He began it all with 300 copies of a record he called, “The Search For The Turtles Navel”, all thanks to the donations of friends who believed in this kid who used to play his guitar in the stairwell at Stanford. Much to his surprise, people really felt an affinity with the sounds he was making, so he kept at it and gathered a cadre of other like-minded artists together under the label Windham Hill.
Will sold Windham Hill in 1992 and moved to Vermont, where he built a new studio called Imaginary Road. It is there that he has continued making music and producing a whole new generation of musicians to this day.
Find Will Ackerman on Calm Radio
Will has always been steadfast when it comes to the music he creates, saying “My music is not going to be about flash, it’s going to be about melody and emotional communication.”
His instrumental guitar music is contemplative and atmospheric while remaining approachable to newcomers of the New Age genre. A few quiet moments are enough to endear someone to this meditative, emotionally-moving relaxing music. Will Ackerman is a one-of-a-kind artist, one that Calm Radio is proud to feature on the SOLO GUITAR RELAXING MUSIC channel. Listen for free to this and many other relaxing music channels on Calm Radio here.
