Originally a carpenter, William Ackerman also composed music for Stanford University theater productions. At the encouragement of friends, he recorded an album of his tunes, "The Search for the Turtle's Navel" in 1976. The album was so well received that Ackerman's career in the music industry was launched. He produced albums for such artists as George Winston, Liz Story, Michael Hedges and Alex de Grassi on his ground-breaking label, Windham Hill Records and virtually launched the rise of acoustic instrumental music in the genre originally called "New Age".