Quick Facts
Biography
Tom Eaton is a Grammy-nominated American multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and mastering engineer. He is known as the composer of multiple albums, and as a producer and engineer who works with Grammy Award-winner William Ackerman.
Since 1993, Allmusic credits Eaton 649 times on 147 albums for production roles, including being an engineer, a producer, mixing, mastering, and for performing piano, keyboards, electric bass, bass, guitar, percussion, accordion, and vocals. He was an engineer on Laura Sullivan's Grammy Award-winning album Love's River.
His influences include Tangerine Dream, Patrick O'Hearn, Vangelis, George Winston, and Tim Story.
Eaton currently resides in East Kingston, NH, where he composes and works in a converted barn.
Early life
Eaton was born in 1971 in Newton Junction, NH, United States. He attended Phillips Andover co-educational university-preparatory school where he encountered their music laboratory in 1987 and started composing music.A year later he started to play piano, influenced by George Winston.
Musical career
In 1993, Eaton opened his first commercial studio, Thomas Eaton Recording in Newburyport, MA In 2009, he received a phone call from William Ackerman to join him as a co-producer at Imaginary Road Studio where they have since co-produced dozens of albums together. In 2014, Ackerman produced and Eaton engineered Laura Sullivan's Grammy Award-winning album Love's River.
In 2010, he co-released Winter Loves Company with cellist Kristen Miller.
In February 2016, Eaton released his first album, abendromen on riverwide records. abendromen garnered Eaton a Zone Music Reporter award as Best New Artist. He was credited on three of the 2016 Zone Music Reporter award-winning albums, not including his own. abendromen was followed up by indesterren, released in September 2016, also on riverwide records. He also released a download only album, Days of Green and Light.
At the 2017, Zone Music Reporter Awards, Abendromen was nominated as best ambient album and he won the award for best new artist.
In 2018, Eaton began performing with Jeff Oster and guitarist Vin Downes in a group they named Departure and appeared on an Echoes streaming "living room concert." One of the songs performed in the streaming concert appears on Echoes album, Victoria Place: Echoes Live 23. He also recorded SPICA/ACIPS on Important Records as part of their limited edition Cassauna cassette catalog.
In April 2019, Eaton released how it happened on Spotted Peccary Music. It was selected by Ambient Music Guide as one of the best of 2019. He also performed in the Zone Music Reporter's 15th Annual Music Concert in New Orleans on May 18, 2019.
In April 2020, Eaton and Ackerman received the Best Instrumental Music Producer Award at the 18th Independent Music Awards for their work on FLOW's first self-titled album.
In May 2020, Eaton released elements: audio environments on riverwide records. Textura selected it as one of their Top 10 Ambient / New Age albums.
Brothers
In July 2021, Eaton, William Ackerman and Jeff Oster began to record the album Brothers.Originally, Brothers was conceived by Oster as a collaboration with Ackerman, but based on Eaton's musical contributions (as well as his recording, arranging, mixing and mastering the album), Eaton was made a "brother" and given equal billing. Recording took place at Eaton's studio in Newburyport, MA and Ackerman's Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont. Eaton performed on piano, keyboard, bass, percussion, and electric guitar, Ackerman performed on acoustic guitar, and Oster performed on flugelhorn and trumpet.The album was nominated for the Grammy Award's Best New Age Album.
Notable collaborations
| Artist | Album | Released | Credits | Award(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Ackerman | Positano Songs | 2022 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Piano, Bass | Grammy Award Nominee for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album |
| Will Ackerman, Jeff Oster, Tom Eaton | Brothers | 2021 | Primary Artist, composer, Piano, Rhodes, Bass, Percussion, Guitar (Electric), arranger, producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | Grammy Award Nominee for Best New Age Album |
| FLOW | Promise | 2019 | Producer, engineer, Mastering, Accordion, Bass, Guitar (Electric), Keyboards,Percussion | 2019 ZMR Album of the Year |
| Kathryn Kaye | Solace of Mountains And Clouds | 2019 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Accordion, Bass,Guitar (Electric) | 2019 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation |
| Todd Mosby | Open Waters | 2019 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Fender Rhodes, Shaker, Synthesizer Pads | 2019 ZMR Best Contemporary Instrumental Album |
| Heidi Breyer | Moonlight in Empty Rooms | 2018 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2018 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation |
| Jeff Oster | Reach | 2018 | Mastering | 2018 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album |
| David Wahler | Mosaic | 2018 | Mastering | 2018 ZMR Best Relaxation Meditation Album |
| FLOW | FLOW | 2017 | Producer, Mixing, Mastering, Bass, Guitar | 2017 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, Independent Music Awards New Age Album of the Year |
| Fiona Joy Hawkins | Signature – Synchronicity | 2016 | Producer, Mixing, Bass, Bass (Electric), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Percussion | Independent Music Award for Best New Age Song for "Song Calling Earth," Best New Age Album; 2016 ZMR Best Piano Album |
| Kathryn Kaye | There Was A Time | 2016 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Accordion | 2016 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation |
| Jeff Pearce | Follow the River Home | 2016 | Mastering | 2016 ZMR Best Ambient Album |
| Erik Scott | In the Company of Clouds | 2016 | Mastering | 2016 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album |
| Kathryn Kaye | Patterns of Sun and Shade | 2015 | Producer, Accompaniment, Bass, Percussion | 2015 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation |
| Jeff Oster | Next | 2015 | Producer, arranger, engineer, Mixing, Bass, composer, Fender Rhodes, Guitar, Hammond B3, Handclapping, Keyboards, Loop Programming, Percussion, Piano,Synthesizer | 2015 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Chill / Groove Album |
| Lawrence Blatt | Emergence | 2014 | Recording, Mixing, and Mastering | 2014 ZMR Best Instrumental Album, Acoustic |
| Jennifer DeFrayne | By A Wire | 2014 | Engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Bass, Cajon, Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Percussion, Tambourine, Vocals, Water Bottle, Wood Block | 2014 ZMR Best New Artist |
| Jill Haley | Mesa Verde Soundscapes | 2014 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Bass Engineer, Guitar Engineer, Piano Engineer | 2014 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation |
| Masako | Call of the Mountains | 2014 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2014 ZMR Best Piano Album, Solo |
| Kathryn Kaye | What the Winter Said | 2013 | Producer, Recording, Mixing, Mastering, Accordion, Autoharp, Bass | 2013 ZMR Best Holiday Album |
| Masako | Masako | 2013 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2013 ZMR Best New Artist |
| Shambhu | Dreaming of Now | 2013 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2013 ZMR Best Contemporary Instrumental Album |
| Todd Boston | Touched by the Sun | 2012 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Clapping | 2012 ZMR Best Instrumental Album, Acoustic |
| The Gathering | The Gathering | 2012 | Producer, Editing, Mastering | 2012 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album |
Discography
- Winter Loves Company (2010)
- abendromen (2016)
- indesterren (2016)
- Days of Green and Light (2016)
- SPICA/ACIPS (2018)
- how it happened (2019)
- elements: audio environments – air (2020)
- elements: audio environments – earth (2020)
- elements: audio environments – fire (2020)
- elements: audio environments – water (2020)
- snapshots (2021)
- Brothers (2021)
- shades of fog (2022)
- verloren (2022)
- twenty-two: collected singles 2021–2022 (2022)
- ghosts (EP) (2023)
- linger(2023)
- weathering (2023)
