Biography

Founded Windham Hill Records in 1976 as a way of promoting his own music (the first record released was his own first record: The Search for the Turtle's Navel - now renamed In Search of the Turtle's Navel). The record company quickly became the number one independent record company in the United States, known for its incredibly unique and unclassifiable music. Throughout the late 80s, Windham Hill fell into a slew with other pseudo-"New Age" record companies, which in turn hurt the label. Although the label did incredibly well even through the 90s, Ackerman sold his interests to Sony/BMG music in 1992, claiming the company was too big for his interests. The record company continues to do well, though the artists who recorded during the "Ackerman" era subsequently left recording with the album in order to keep their music independent. Ackerman currently runs and produces a new independent record company: Imaginary Road Music and Imaginary Road Studios.

Is well known for his unique open tunings on his guitar compositions. Although many consider his music not too extraordinarily difficult, the open tunings are a must to his compositions in order to keep the difficulty down.