Eric Gillette

Eric Gillette (born August 14, 1984) is an American multi-instrumentalist from Dallas, Texas. He is the lead guitarist for the Neal Morse Band, as well as a solo artist producing his own albums. He primarily plays guitar, but also plays piano, keyboards, drums, and sings on his own albums as well as session work.

Gillette began taking piano lessons as a young child and learned to play the guitar as a teenager. His father and aunt taught him chords, and he spent some time jamming along with his aunt's bluegrass band. In 2010 he began playing guitar and providing background vocals for The Swon Brothers, three years before their appearance on The Voice. He went on to play electric guitar for their album The Swon Brothers. He married his wife Jaci Lynn on October 10, 2014, about a year after they met at a Swon Brothers show.

Gillette's musical influences include Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and Eric Johnson. He is also a fan of and inspired by drummer Mike Portnoy, which is how he first heard of Neal Morse.

In April 2012, Gillette auditioned to play guitar, keyboards, and vocals for The Neal Morse Band. He was a guest vocalist on Neal Morse's 2012 album Momentum, and then performed guitars and vocals for the first Neal Morse Band album The Grand Experiment in 2015. Gillette continued to play with the Neal Morse Band on their second album and tour, The Similitude of a Dream, which was released in 2016. The album received high praise, including being awarded Album of the Year 2016 from The Prog Report who applaud "the talents of guitar virtuoso Eric Gillette."

In 2013, Gillette released his first solo album, Afterthought. Although Gillette played all of the instruments, his Neal Morse Band mates Randy George and Bill Hubauer were featured on bass and synthesizers, respectively. His next solo album, The Great Unknown, was released in May 2016 with Gillette playing guitar, keyboards, and vocals. The album also includes drummer Thomas Lang and Haken band members Conner Green and Diego Tejeida on bass and keys.

Upcoming projects that Eric Gillette is working on include the Tree of Life Project with guitarist/composer Carlos Hernandez and bassist Fernando Fossi. Gillette provides drums, keyboards, and mixing for their first album, Awakening Call, which will be released in 2017.