Imaginary Road Studios

05/23/2025

Ann Sweeten's new album "Still" is out today! It's a beautiful album full of heart and spirit. Ann's playing continues to evolve and surprise and "Still" is her most intimate and expressive album to date. Please give it a listen and help celebrate new music from one of our favorite artists!

Ten emotionally-charged, heartwarming instrumental melodies blended with brilliant textural elements, from Massachusetts's-based pianist-composer Ann Sweeten.

05/19/2025

Ellis Paul played the Stone Church last night here in town and we caught up over coffee this morning. Long time no see! We figured out it had been 21 years!
If you don't know Ellis Paul's music, do yourself a favor and find him here: https://www.ellispaul.com/

03/09/2025

If you haven't heard of Platform8, the project created by Tom Eaton & Noah Wilding, I'd like to introduce you to my new favorite band! (Those "in the know" will understand why this project is especially close to my heart.) Their new single FLY is hitting the soundwaves here: https://lnk.to/platform8fly

02/28/2025

Echoes Needs Our Help! This is Significant, Folks. Echoes is heading into debt. Let’s keep them going!
It would be hard to overstate how much the radio program Echoes has done to showcase and support musical artists every day for 35 Years.
Listening to every 2-hour long show, back to back, would take 3 YEARS!
https://echoes-store.myshopify.com/collections/support-echoes
My own life has been intertwined with John Diliberto for decades now. John and Kimberly did so much to make Windham Hill Records the successful label that it became and in the process helped create careers for so many brilliant musicians over the years; George Winston, Liz Story, Michael Hedges, Shadowfax and Alex deGrassi among so many others. Multitudes of musicians who might not have ever been heard are indebted to John; myself included.
If you are unaware of what Echoes is/does:
“Echoes is a daily two-hour music soundscape, distributed by Public Radio International and broadcast on over 110 radio stations from Maine to California. With host John Diliberto, a writer for Billboard, Pulse and other magazines, Echoes brings together a wide array of styles, from acoustic to electronic, jazz to space music, the avant-garde to rock. Echoes is a sound that is cross-cultural and trans-millennial, merging cultures and forms, technology and tradition, the ancient past and the possible future.”
Please support John and Echoes to keep this unique and remarkable program alive so that opportunities will continue to exist for brilliant new musicians to be discovered and find a home. ---Will Ackerman
Please Share & Donate here:
https://echoes-store.myshopify.com/collections/support-echoes

02/23/2025

Woke up this morning to this marvelous Pitchfork review by Alex Robert Ross! A million thanks, Alex!

Read Alex Ross’ review of the album.

01/24/2025

Platform8 strikes again with their new single, Warmth.
Tom Eaton & Noah Wilding have created a sound completely unique and compelling that I hope you love as much as I do. Please follow them and give them a listen and your love. - Will

Listen to Warmth by Platform8, Noah Wilding, Tom Eaton.

01/18/2025

Charlie Bisharat and his family lost everything in the fires. Here is the link to their fundraiser:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/helpsupportourfamilyinthepalisades

I think the first time Charlie Bisharat played on one of my albums was Conferring With The Moon, nearly 40 years ago. That was the year he joined Shadowfax and played on their last album produced on Windham Hill.
Since then, I have the honor and joy of continuing to work with him on many projects I’ve recorded, not just my own, but on a myriad of albums here at Imaginary Road.
He’s played with The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Elton John and the Beatles, for chrissakes! He’s been on scores of soundtracks and television shows and recording projects beyond number because he is that good.
And the guy is a monster session player.
Tom Eaton and I will listen back to his parts with awe and tears in our eyes.
And he just happens to be one of the sweetest people I have ever met.

He fled his home in the Palisades with just his family and his violin, but remains eminently philosophical about it all and grateful his family is safe.

If you can support Charlie and his family in ANY way, please do so. He’s brought us so much joy…. let’s thank him now for all he’s given us.
-Will

There are little to no words as to what's happening currently in Los Angeles. … Nicole McDonald needs your support for Help Support My Family in the Palisades

01/12/2025

Please consider donating to this gofundme for my dear friend Forrest Robinson, who lost his home to the Altadena wildfires. He and his wife Paige made it out safely with their pup, but lost everything else.

With seven Grammy Awards under his belt, Forrest Robinson has… TSO AUDIO CREW HOPE SQUAD needs your support for Help Drummer Forrest Robinson Rebuild After Fire Tragedy

12/26/2024

David Lindsay has released his 5th album produced at Imaginary Road! He also appears on The Gathering~Guitar. Please give him a listen and some love here:

Listen to With You by David Lindsay.

12/25/2024

We LOVE this album!
In 1997, Imaginary Road producers Dawn Atkinson & Will Ackerman released ON A WINTER’S NIGHT, an absolutely wonderful wintry-season album that fell through the cracks in the ice, in terms of promotion and distribution.
You can stream it here:
https://lnk.to/Onawintersnight
Tracks by Barbara Higbie, Fred Simon, Tim Story, Steve Erquiaga, Deborah Henson-Conant, Paul McCandless, Richard Schönhertz, David Cullen & Jill Haley, Charlie Bisharat, Valgardena, Samite, Rob Eberhard Young, Secret Garden, Schola Cantorum of St. Peter’s In The Loop
Song Playing is Coventry Carol by Barbara Higbie-

12/24/2024

At 6 years old, Karolyn Grimes played Zuzu in Frank Capra’s classic It’s A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It feels ridiculous to even write that because we all know this anyway… it’s probably encoded in our dna by now. I admit that I'm a sap and cry happy tears every time I see the movie. Many years ago, on Christmas Eve I went online, found her number and called her… and she answered!!! She made it a point to be accessible on Christmas Eve. I was struck by her kindness and obvious joy in the role she was given; as an actor and as someone who can continue to give the gift of being there for us on Christmas Eve. Surely in this age of connectivity and social media, she probably doesn’t take phone calls, but live-streams on FBook or something! I wrote a song called Zuzu’s Petal’s in 2008, give it a listen, if you like 👉 https://lnk.to/zuzuspetals
And/Or go visit Karolyn’s FB page, she’s 84 and still going strong! 🥀🥀🥀
https://www.facebook.com/imzuzu
If this post looks familiar, I posted it last
Christmas!

Listen to Zuzu’s Petals by Will Ackerman.