New Age music slipped into the American consciousness in the 1980s, an era of hype and hysteria for anything new, and managed to keep a low profile for the rest of the decade — in part because of its elusiveness as a category. No one seemed able to define precisely what made a particular piece of music New Age. Some New Agers, such as harpist Andreas Vollenweider, disavowed the term altogether. Yet most did agree about the effect New Age music had on listeners, describing it as creating sensations such as "a pastoral utopia of peace and centeredness," or "a magic carpet ride for the listeners imagination," or "a pilgrimage through the cosmos." The enthusiasm for New Age music bridged two separate phenomena. The first was a lingering fondues among many Americans, generally aging baby boomers, for the (counterculture of the 1960s. The second...