DUMMERSTON-Windham Hill Records founder and Grammy-winning producer and guitarist Will Ackerman has lived and worked in southern Vermont for many decades. You might find him at Brown & Roberts getting his chainsaw oiled, or you might see him at Echo or at the Marina, two of his favorite local haunts.
Ackerman says that’s the main thing that stays with him: the sense of home — which inspired the title of his new LP.
The Commons caught up with Ackerman to talk about several huge and simultaneous celebrations this year to honor the 50th anniversary of the record label he founded: a one-day anniversary celebration in Berkeley, California; a new documentary, A Quiet Revolution; and a brand new LP, Home, on which he plays lead guitar.
Following is an excerpt of the conversation.
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Victoria Chertok: A Kickstarter campaign has raised 77% of your goal of $55,000 for a new album marking the 40th anniversary of Windham Hill’s A Winter’s Solstice recording, bringing together some of the original artists. That is pretty exciting!
Will Ackerman: It’s exciting for sure. We thought that doing a Kickstarter would give fans the opportunity to have a hand in the creation of this album, which is very unique. I love that about it. We are opening it up to everyone, so artists will send us submissions.
A lot of the original artists are still making music and said they would love to be on it. Alex [De Grassi] will be on it, I will be on it, with Barbara Higbie, Liz Story, [and others]. We hope to have the album out by September.
V.C.: You are donating your time as executive producer, working alongside Dawn Atkinson (producer of the six volumes of the original series), and Bob Duskis (producer of Windham Hill’s first Celtic Christmas compilation). How does that feel?
W.A.: It’s sort of like a reunion. These are people I worked with for a million years in [California]. We’ve been dear friends for a long time, so it’s really fun. I’m looking forward to it tremendously.
V.C.: A documentary film about the Windham Hill label, A Quiet Revolution, will come out later this year. What has working with Tal Skloot, the director, been like?
W.A.: It’s the first real compendium about the label, and Tal really cares. Tal is so present, and his enthusiasm for the project is so obvious. He’s a great partner in this process.
V.C.: Tell me about the concert celebrating 50 years of making music.
W.A.: The concert in Berkeley, California will be on Nov. 1. It’s the cherry on top of the cake. Tal has interviewed 30 people, and he will film the concert of the 50th anniversary, so he will have a fantastic way of ending the documentary.
V.C.: Let’s talk about your new LP, Home, which centers around your life in Vermont.
W.A.: Well, I’ve become a really good lead guitar player. Over the years I got involved doing melody on other people’s projects. It’s really fun at this age to have this whole new world that I’m inhabiting, and I’m having so much fun.
V.C.: Tell me about your process of making Home.
W.A.: The whole process of music for me is that my mind is not involved in the process. It’s a matter of feeling; finding a new tuning and exploring that. It’s what I’m feeling in the moment. I don’t see it as conceptual. We wanted to do a tribute to the area (southern Vermont) that we love so well.
V.C.: How did you end up moving to southern Vermont?
W.A.: I got a letter from a guy named Dan Snow, and there was a hand drawn map of how to get to his house. I drove up Stickney Brook Road and went to his house and the door opened, and there was Dan. I hadn’t told him I was coming. He said “Oh, Will, come on in,” like he was expecting me. It was some crazy, magic thing.
I stayed for three days, and we probably drank more wine than we should have, and he said his dad was willing to sell me some land right next to Dan’s. I said “yes, please,” and that is how we became the best friends in the world, and I can still see his barn from our house. That friendship with Dan, leaving California and moving to Vermont — it changed my whole life.
V.C.: On the album, you have tracks called “The West River,” “Little Black Mountain,” and “Wood Thrush,” which is your favorite bird. What does living in Vermont mean to you?
W.A.: Not a day goes by when we look out our window see Little Black Mountain and I say to [my wife] Susan, “Look at the light.” The community here and being next door to Dan Snow. We have this wonderful isolation up here. We have these buildings on our property that I’ve built with ash, oak, cherry, and pine that I’ve harvested from our land. We have trees turned into boards, and we’ve used them to build the screened-in porch and the barn.
V.C.: What else do you love about living in southern Vermont?
W.A.: I just ran down to get a cup of coffee at West River Cafe [in Brattleboro], and it’s kind of fun because you can sit down and have some wonderful conversations with people you don’t know. There are some regulars, and you get to talk and learn about their lives. It’s a very Vermont-y kind of thing. That’s one of the elements of the place that I love so much.
V.C.: The Marina is a local favorite of yours. Any other places that stand out?
W.A.: We know most of the people who work at The Marina by first names. It’s changed ownership [in 2025], but it’s better than ever. The light in that space is so beautiful and the view. Bartender Brian “Radar” Patenaude has been a fixture forever. I’m in love with him. It’s part of Brattleboro.
I like to go down to Echo [Restaurant & Lounge in Brattleboro] as well. We do check in with Michael [Fuller] at T.J. Buckley’s also.
V.C.: You have a song on your new album called “For Shorty.” Tell me about that one.
W.A.: At the height of Windham Hill’s fame, [the label] was monstrously famous in Japan. Japanese media actually chartered a jet from Japan to arrive in Boston, and we were descended upon. I had day after day of doing interviews. One of the guys asked me, “Who is your teacher, your guru?”
And I said, “Shorty.”
Shorty, whose name was Sylvio Forrett, was this tiny guy with twinkling eyes who worked at Brown & Roberts.
He had no warning at all when a pile of Japanese media stopped by [the hardware store] to ask about me. He didn’t bat an eyelash. He taught me a lot about chainsaws.
Shorty was one of the kindest people I’ve met in my life. I wish I could say to him, “Here’s a song I wrote for you.”
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If you’d like to donate funds towards a new album marking the 40th anniversary of Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice recordings bringing together some of the original artists,visit bit.ly/865-windhamhill. The campaign ends at noon Sunday, May 17.
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Editor’s note: Stories presented as interviews in this format are edited for clarity, readability, and space. Words not spoken by interview subjects appear in brackets, as do editorial clarifications.
Victoria Chertok is a contributing writer to The Commons and The Keene Sentinel. She has published more than 300 articles in three newspapers since 2017.
This Arts item by Victoria Chertok was written for The Commons.