In 1970, Ahlers formed the group Glory River and was signed by
Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Productions to a recording contract in
New York City. The band toured and played numerous venues regularly, including The Electric Circus and
Fillmore East. In 1972, Ahlers moved to
California, where he toured with
Van Morrison and recorded three albums with
Jesse Colin Young on
Warner Bros. Records. He played the keyboard in
Peter Rowan's band Free Mexican Airforce 1977–1978. During these years, he also recorded with
Gene Clark of
The Byrds and rocker
Greg Kihn. In 1978, he was involved with
Rob Nilsson's Cine Manifest and composed the film score for
Northern Lights, which won the
Camera d’Or at The
Cannes Film Festival. In 1979, Ahlers joined the
Jerry Garcia Band, both touring and recording with Garcia for the next two years. He played keyboards on the albums
Live at the Capitol Theater,
After Midnight: Kean College,
Garcia Live Volume One,
Garcia Live Volume Four and
Garcia Plays Dylan. In 1981, he became a founding member, songwriter and keyboard player in the rock-reggae band The Edge with bandmates Lorin Rowan and Jimmy Dillon. In 1990, Ahlers was hired by
Gumby creator
Art Clokey to create the music for the cult classic
Gumby: The Movie, and hired
Craig Chaquico from
Jefferson Starship to play lead guitar. Owing to the time that it takes to complete a feature-length stop-motion film, the movie wouldn't be released until 1995. In 1992, Ahlers and Chaquico collaborated and signed with
Higher Octave Records. They recorded their first album in 1993,
Acoustic Highway, which rose on the
Billboard Magazine charts and
Radio & Records Magazine. For their next album,
Acoustic Planet, they were nominated for a
Grammy Award in 1995 as well as charting a No. 1 position in
Billboard. For two years in a row, Ahlers and Chaquico won a Bay Area Music Award for Best Independent Album. Ahlers continued playing keyboards, songwriting, and producing
ten Chaquico albums for another 16 years, as well as being the musical director for his own worldwide touring band. He became a solo artist on the
Higher Octave Music label with his album
Fingerpainting. During the 1990s, Ahlers co-wrote, produced, and played keyboards for four albums by blues artist Jimmy Dillon:
Bad and Blue,
The Next Frame,
Rituals and
Everything. He is the musical director for the
Blue Star Music Camps for Kids in the
Bay Area, founded by guitarist Jimmy Dillon. In 2011, Ahlers created the DVD piano lesson series
Killer Keyboards Made Simple. They have been sold worldwide and continue to be a popular online instructional keyboard series. He also hosts a Webinar Series "The Keyboard Klub" as a streaming instructional group for musicians. ==Discography==