For songwriter and virtuosic acoustic guitarist James Scott, it would be one fateful event that sent him on a lifelong journey. Now, he emerges a profoundly versatile musician, performing solo and in ensemble settings as a singer-songwriter, an impressionistic instrumental composer, and a masterful interpreter of styles, including jazz, bluegrass, folk, Americana, and Celtic. “I remember one day my father came home with a cassette sampler from Windham Hill Records,” the Nashville, Tennessee-based artist recalls. “I must have listened to that every day for a year—I went to sleep listening to it. I was fascinated how one instrument could span the timbrel range of orchestral music. That sampler totally changed my life and my music.” Windham Hill Records is the vanguard of modern acoustic music, featuring a roster of composers with dazzling musicianship whose singular artistry is transporting, evoking rolling hills, the sweet easy feeling of small towns, and bucolic sentimentality. At the time of hearing this life-changing music, James was an aspiring metal and progressive rock fan and guitarist, clocking in hours on the instrument to play the challenging heavy music he loved. The Windham Hill music was different and resonated with him in terms of being a music that requires dedication and the pursuit of excellence. It also evoked his love of the lush paintings of Van Gogh, Monet and the movement of Impressionism in art.