MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Will Ackerman recapped a 30-year career as an acoustic guitarist in his latest album “Returning,” and the effort won the Dummerston resident and founder of the Windham Hill recording label a Grammy.

“I had tried as hard as possible to be blase,” Ackerman said in a phone interview from Montreal, where he was visiting Monday. “You know, “Gee it doesn’t really matter.’ Actually, it’s pretty overwhelming.”

When he got the word, Ackerman said, “I just burst into tears and went in to give my girlfriend a hug.”

“Returning,” on the Decca/Mary’s Tree label, is a collection of new takes on previous Ackerman recordings that has won praise from critics as evidencing technical and artistic growth.

Among previous pieces given new treatment are “The Bricklayer’s Beautiful Daughter,” and “The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit.

The Grammy in the New Age category, announced by The Recording Academy during the annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, resulted from the third straight Ackerman album to be nominated for one of the awards. The previous two were “The Sound of Wind Driven Rain” in 1998 and “Hearing Voices” in 2003.

New Age music is an often ethereal and sometimes flowery blend of many genres that has a strong and loyal following among fans who speak of its relaxing and healing properties.

Ackerman founded Windham Hill Records, a leading label in the New Age genre, at the height of the disco craze in 1976. His debut release, “In Search of the Turtle’s Navel,” was named on of “20 albums that made a difference” by New Age Journal in 1995. He sold his interest in Windham Hill in 1992 but continued to record under that label until he created the new Mary’s Tree label and arranged for distribution of “Returning” by Decca-Universal.

As head of Windham Hill, Ackerman was credited as being a key creative force behind the “Winter Solstice” series, as well as gold and platinum recordings for pianist George Winston.

Ackerman, 55, said that with two previous Grammy nominations under his belt, he had “gotten used to nominations.” He said this year’s Grammy award was surprising given that there were two other New Age nominations in the Decca distribution system, “so the vote had to be splintered.”

AP-ES-02-14-05 1804EST