Returning - Grammy™ Award Winning Album

by William Ackerman

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The Green Kingdom The master of reflective, melodic acoustic guitar revisiting some of his most loved compositions. Essential. Favorite track: Anne's Song ( 1977 ).

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
NOTE: IF YOU WOULD LIKE WILL TO AUTOGRAPH THIS CD PLEASE INDICATE YOUR REQUEST AT CHECK OUT BY CLICKING ON “INCLUDE A MESSAGE TO WILLIAM ACKERMAN."

This is Will's Grammy Winning album Returning DigiPak with an awesome booklet filled with his stories about each song.

Black and white photos of Will by Irene Young. ireneyoungfoto.com

Includes unlimited streaming of Returning - Grammy™ Award Winning Album via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	The Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter ( 1975 ) 04:18	info	buy track
2.	Anne's Song ( 1977 ) 03:56	info	buy track
3.	The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit ( 1970 ) 06:16	info	buy track
4.	Pictures ( 1998 ) 05:09	info	buy track
5.	Hawk Circle ( 1980 ) 05:06	info	buy track
6.	Barbara's Song ( 1970 ) 05:06	info	buy track
7.	Unconditional ( 1997 ) 02:36	info	buy track
8.	Visiting ( 1982 ) 05:46	info	buy track
9.	Processional ( 1973 ) 05:00	info	buy track
10.	In A Region of Clouds ( 1987 ) 04:22	info	buy track
11.	Last Day at the Beach ( 1986 ) 05:04	info	buy track

about

Returning is a collection of new recordings of my favorite guitar solos over 35 years of composing.
The first question I suppose I need to answer for myself ( and then for you) is why I'm doing a record like Returning 30 years after my career began.
In 1975 I was working as a general contractor and had a building company called Windham Hill Builders. I had played some guitar for theater productions at Standford University and played in stairwells and various places around Standford that offered some natural reverberation. As the result, a number of people had heard my music despite the fact that I'd never played a paying gig in my life.
It was this group of friends and informal fans who got together and collected about $300 in five-dollar bills to send me into a recording studio. I picked a studio out of the phone book named Mantra Studios ( it was the 70s after all!) I walked not that room and made a record I called The Search for The Turtle's Navel in two afternoons. Around that recording, I created a record label I called Windham Hill Records. I promise you I had no idea of what was to become of me or Windham Hill.
The songs I recorded in those two afternoons ( and the music I recorded for much of my early career) hopefully revealed some good composition and it was clear that people related to the pieces emotionally in very gratifying ways. But the kid who recorded them was basically scared to death. Just being in a studio was intimidating and my heart was pumping enough adrenaline through my system to fuel an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Listening back to these pieces now I hear myself trying to get the notes in the right order and avoid any terrible mistakes, but I don't hear any of the nuance and ebb and flow that the pieces reveal when I perform them today. My ambition in performance is to be emotionally connected to every note I play: I know that sounds like a canned statement, but I swear it's the truth. I've played pieces like "The Bricklayers Beautiful Daughter" and "The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit" literally thousands of times, but kick myself if I ever leave the stage feeling as if I haven't felt the emotion of the songs or had the sense that I was discovering them for the first time.

credits

released January 1, 2004

Will Ackerman, guitar
David Cullen, Lead guitar: Hawk Circle and Last Day at the Beach

Produced by ℗ © Will Ackerman 2004, 2012 and published by Imaginary Road Music ( BMI )

Engineered by Corin Nelsen at Imaginary Road Studios, Windham County Vermont

Mastered by Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering, Portland, Maine

williamackerman.com
will@williamackerman.com

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about

William Ackerman Vermont

I recorded my first record for about $ 300 in 1975, creating Windham Hill Records in the process. I’ve produced George Winston and Michael Hedges among many others.

I’ve toured in the US, Europe and Japan. I have a Grammy Award and 21 Gold and Platinum Records as a producer in the US and overseas. My studio is in Windham County, Vermont. It’s been a lot of fun. Still is. ... more

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