Windham Hill Records

Windham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in acoustic, new age and folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and Anne Robinson, then married, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected music label during its height in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was purchased by BMG through a series of buyouts from 1992 through 1996 and is currently a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment after BMG's subsequent merger in 2008. Private Music, also a subsidiary of BMG, has issued some back-catalog releases under the Windham Hill Records imprint. Since the Sony merger, Windham Hill has released no new material but reissues albums and compilations as part of Sony's Legacy Recordings brand.

History

Windham Hill was originally an instrumental music label, releasing Ackerman's own work, as well as that of other guitarists. It then expanded to include electronic and world music ensembles. While the artists of Windham Hill may not have used the term, the label eventually became known in the industry mainly as a new age music label, with its Billboard-charting albums appearing primarily on the New Age genre charts. The label is best known for its high sound quality, unique flagship collections and tasteful album art within the form of an identifiable label brand identity.

Michael Hedges

Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer, acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is known for having pioneered percussive fingerstyle guitar, the influence of which can now be heard in the compositions and playing of many guitarists.

Early years

Michael hedges was born in Sacramento, the son of Dr. Thayne Alden Hedges and Ruth Evelyn Hedges Ipsen. Hedges' life in music began where grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, as he flirted with various instruments before focusing on flute and guitar. He eventually enrolled at Phillips University in Enid to study classical guitar and composition under E. J. Ulrich. Subsequently Hedges studied as a composition major at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he applied his classically trained musical background in combination with various unusual techniques to the steel-string acoustic guitar.

Hedges covered a wide range of musical styles and was considered an extremely dynamic performer in concert. Hedges made ends meet playing and singing in pubs and restaurants in the Baltimore Metro area during his tenure at Peabody. From 1976 to 1977 he played electric guitar and flute for a local jazzy folk rock group called Lotus Band, which he left to start performing solo acoustic. In 1980, he made plans to move to California to study music at Stanford University.

Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit (e.g. Box Hill, Surrey).

Terminology

The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be less tall and less steep than a mountain. In the United Kingdom, geographers historically regarded mountains as hills greater than 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, which formed the basis of the plot of the 1995 film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. In contrast, hillwalkers have tended to regard mountains as peaks 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level: the Oxford English Dictionary also suggests a limit of 2,000 feet (610 m) and Whittow states "Some authorities regard eminences above 600 m (2,000 ft) as mountains, those below being referred to as hills." The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines hill as an upland with a relative height up to 200 m (660 ft).

Windham

Windham is an English surname, derived from the name of Wymondham, Norfolk. The pronunciation of that toponym had become indistinguishable from Windham in Late Middle English, and the ruling family of Wymondham began to write its name in this way from the time of Edward IV.

People

Aerial Boundaries

Aerial Boundaries is the landmark recording by guitarist Michael Hedges released on the Windham Hill label. Considered to be one of the greatest acoustic guitar records of all time, it was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Engineered Recording.

Track listing

All compositions by Michael Hedges except "After the Gold Rush" by Neil Young.

Personnel

Production notes

References