Jeff plays percussion for Pat Metheny and our banter through Skype was brief, but… fun!  He’s a good soul… there’s no doubt!

Here’s a peek into the sessions through Skype… not the greatest view and sound in the world, but it will give you an idea of how things are going as this project proceeds.

The track that is featured here is the “end vamp” to my song “Forever.”  Please note that this is raw and pretty bare as there is so much more going on in the track.  As usual… I am excited and cannot wait to share this music with the world!

You may have heard for Jeff Haynes… he’s Pat Metheny’s percussionist!

Anyway… what is totally amazing is, since I am unable to be in Vermont this week… I will be present in the studio for these sessions thru Skype!  Oh man… you gotta love technology!

So… more to come as this project progresses!

Tony Levin recorded bass on several tracks from “Drifting Into The Sublime” and that was such a treat!  Tom Eaton who is Will’s amazing engineer added some piano and percussion as well!  Check out the video below…

Tom also added some gorgeous piano to my song “Gravity Of Faith” which is fast becoming my favorite track!!!  Let me also note that Will added some Hopi Drum to this track as well…

Noah Wildling stopped by as well to add gorgeous vocals…

So we’re slowly getting there!  Stay tuned!!!  There’s so much more to come!

Tony Levin… the amazing, Tony Levin added his bass to 5 tracks from “Drifting Into The Sublime.”  What a pleasure it was to meet him and watch him work!  After the sessions, Tony and I went out to have dinner.  As he put it… “let’s go out and set Route 5 ablaze!”  We found a small… empty Italian Pasta Restaurant.  Turns out that Tony LOVES Italian food so we stopped.  It was a perfect choice as we were the only one’s there and the family that owns the place were fun to listen to… thick accents.  Of course I should note… the food was amazingly good… BIG Calzones!!!  Tony joked that he was going to somehow finish his… and somehow he did.  I almost made it though mine… but came up short, but… man, it was wonderful.  We talked about our family backgrounds and had a great time getting to know each other!  Tony had some nice things to say about my songs… and “Lake Of Remembrance” was his fave as it actually challenged him!  I guess the timing was somewhat odd and he remarked that it was almost like a King Crimson song… I beamed endlessly after hearing that!

Today the fun stuff continues!!!

Will is planning to add some guitar to one more song!  Tom Eaton is going to add some piano to “Sunset” and by the way… he already tracked piano for “The Gravity Of Faith” and I get goose bumps whenever I think about how good his performance was on that piece!

Noah Wildling is coming to the studio to add some vocals and I should note, Will is planning to add a Hopi Drum part to the “The Gravity Of Faith.”

SO… the fun stuff starts again!

I arrived in Brattleboro, VT Monday, well… more like 1 am Tuesday morning after flying from Rapid City, South Dakota to Denver, then to Newark, NJ… where I was delayed for almost an extra 2 hours or so… waiting, waiting… waiting to board a flight to Albany.  At any rate… I did make it to Albany after they de-iced the plane for about 30 mins… which btw is no fun to think about before you fly!  Thankfully I made into Albany and drove to Vermont… only to be met with snowy and icy roads through the mountains.

Anyway… after an interesting day of travel, I made it and settled into my room for the night in Vermont and fell asleep around 3 am or so.

After a wonderful breakfast at Will’s place… we started working around 10 am on the last section of basic guitar tracks, about 6 more songs… so it was a long day!

I am happy to say…we’re pretty much done and Will and I are discussing maybe adding one more song, but for all intents and purposes… we’re done!

Tom Eaton has already added some gorgeous piano to a couple songs… oh man, it was beautiful!  I can’t wait for you all to hear this!

Today… Tony Levin will be adding some bass parts.  Tony is an amazing musician… he worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Sting!  I can’t wait to head over to the studio to experience this next phase of the recording!  So here’s to another great and an amazing day!

It was originally intended for a project I never completed called “Spring Reflections.”  I may have to work on that someday and get it done!!!

Anyway… the song did make it onto my “Reflections” project which was a compilation of songs taken from the “Reflections” series. The video isn’t all that great… but I hope you enjoy the song none the less!

Please consider pledging today, thanks so much!

CLICK HERE to learn more, thanks!

Will Ackerman
Founder of Windham Hill Records

On December 15th & 16th, I started recording “Drifting Into The Sublime” with Grammy Award Winner Will Ackerman producing! It was an amazing time and much was accomplished as I recorded 7 tracks… all basic guitar parts in the hopes to add greater instrumentation as the project progresses!

I NEED your help to complete the next phase of the project… recording 6 more songs of basic guitar tracks, as well as adding some bass parts provided by bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, Paul Simon, James Taylor etc.) and percussionist Jeff Haynes (best known for his work with Pat Metheny).

Together we can create great art and music… music that I hope will bring hope, and peace in a restless world!

Click here to view information and video… thanks so much!!!

I will say this… I am completely impressed by my new Eastman!!!  They are worth the time to look into… they are amazing!!!

EASTMAN GUITARS