I've thought of Will Ackerman many times over the years. His music has always been an inspiration. After my mother's passing, a difficult time, I was working in an engineering office with a view over a stand of second-growth fir trees. Late one day the sun setting over the trees reminded me of the Windham Hill logo. The year was 1993. Ackerman had just sold his interest in the company and moved to Vermont to reinvent himself. When I got home that night I picked up the guitar. As my fingers touched the strings I knew I was at the beginning of a reinvention of my own.

When it came time to pick a studio, a year ago now, to record this next record in I immediately thought of Will's inspiration. I Googled him, simply to find out what he was up to. To my surprise I found that he is available to produce recordings for independent artists like myself. I called the studio, expecting that the requirements would exceed my budget.

What followed was a Saturday morning phone call with one of my heroes. Will generously spent an hour with me. I set about sending Will some demo recordings, and things were set in motion. Recording there was not an insignificant expense, to be sure. But I calculated the number of units I'd need to sell, and what I stood to gain from the experience, and decided it was worth it.

I just made the first of two trips there, intending to record five songs as a demo. We captured nine. I scheduled another trip and got to work on polishing another couple of pieces to finish the record.