tom eaton
Tom's release 'weathering' is the story of losing hope, losing home, seeking clarity, and eventually finding a way back to life and light.
"We're used to confessional singer-songwriters sharing their deepest problems in words. Tom Eaton does it much more subtly and effectively with instrumental music. "weathering" is his emotionally resonant expression of the struggles, realizations, and hard-won satisfactions of mid-life."
- Stephen Hill, Hearts of Space
"I’ve had the pleasure to work with Tom Eaton for 13 years. I have always been aware of his work as a musician and have never known him to release anything to the world that wasn’t stellar and emotionally captivating. His new album, “weathering,” however is nothing less than a masterpiece. When you keep hitting replay 9 or 10 times you know you’re in the presence of something very rare. Though Tom has won numerous awards over the years, I have to believe that “weathering” will give Tom the audience he deserves. Did I hear someone say Grammy?"
- Will Ackerman, GRAMMY® award-winning founder of Windham Hill Records
"I'm fairly sure Tom Eaton just wants us all to cry. In calling upon music to help him work through the story of a dark time in his life and his eventual return to light, Eaton offers “weathering,” a collection of pieces that bare their souls – and his – in vignettes of raw intimacy. Each part of the story unfolds gracefully, in slowly evolving, vivid detail that dives straight to the listener's soul. Central to everything is Eaton's exquisite and heartfelt piano work, an expressive, engaging narrator speaking in a remarkably honest voice. Eaton, who plays every instrument here (with guitar help from son Huck on the opening track), builds gorgeous sonic environments around the piano, pulling its voice forward like it's emerging from a light fog. The real beauty of “weathering” stems from how Eaton's translation of his personal story becomes a universal key to our emotions. Each piece is likely to open some specific door (or several) within its listeners, related to their own travails and triumphs, making us feel this music very viscerally and individually. “weathering” is easily one of the best and most beautiful albums I've heard this year, and it has become a genuine personal favorite."
– John Shanahan, Hypnagogue Podcast
“'Weathering' is a masterpiece you will definitely want to preserve for the rest of your life. A kind of musical Bible, it is worth listening to it more than a thousand times whenever you need the succor and support of an unseen hand."
– Vivek Kumar, New Music Alert
New Release
'Weathering'
“'Weathering' is a form of rebirth for those who are having a hard time. For those whose souls are down their feet! The sadness that emanates from the piano-led melodies and the arrangements of synths and guitar leads us to an introspection where the best of ourselves is nonetheless within reach."
– Sylvain Lupari, Synth&Sequences
Tom Eaton is a GRAMMY® award-nominated American musician, producer, and mastering engineer. Using vintage and modern synthesizers, guitars, fretted and fretless basses, myriad sonic sculpting devices, field recordings, and his signature piano, Tom composes what Ambient Music Guide calls “lush, shadowed, emotional music that’s rich in harmonies and oceanic layers and so deliciously slow.” The spatial and dynamic aesthetic of the classic Hearts of Space, Windham Hill, and Private Music albums resonate through Tom’s work, described by Hypnagogue as “breathtaking…rich, complex and beautifully structured.” Tom’s music has been featured on Echoes, Hearts of Space, Star’s End, SiriusXM, and NPR.
Since 1993 Tom has been producing, engineering, mastering, and playing on albums for other artists, and since 2009 he has been collaborating with Will Ackerman (GRAMMY® winning guitarist, producer, and founder of Windham Hill Records) making albums for some of the best musicians working in the modern instrumental and New Age genres. Tom and Will produced and toured with the award-winning ensemble FLOW (featuring Will, Lawrence Blatt, Fiona Joy Hawkins, and Jeff Oster), playing Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall multiple times, The Grammy Museum in LA, and The Jazz Museum in New Orleans, among many other venues. Brothers, a trio album written and performed by Tom, Will, and Jeff, was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award in 2021. Will’s current album, Positano Songs, which Tom and Will produced and Tom recorded, mixed, mastered, and contributed piano and bass to, was nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY® award.
Tom lives in rural New Hampshire with his wife, two cats, and a rotating cast of nearly grown children. His studio, Sounds & Substance, is a two-story converted barn containing a mastering studio on the first floor and Tom's composing space on the second floor, filled with instruments and natural light. He draws inspiration from the woods and pastures just outside his door and the nearby Atlantic coast.
Tom's Releases
