Eric Kilburn spent the mid‑to‑late 1980s working his way up the food chain in the east coast folk music scene, playing regularly at nearly all New England’s folk clubs and touring as far south as the Carolinas and as far west as Illinois. Bob and RaeAnn Donlin of the legendary Club Passim in Cambridge, MA, were particular boosters: Eric played at Passim more than forty times, initially as an opener for established artists like Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, Eric Andersen and others before playing a dozen times as the featured artist. Eric released four acclaimed albums over seven years; had songs covered by Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger; performed in a PBS pilot with Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, and Fred Small; had lots of fun and made “dozens of dollars.”
In 1984, Eric started , a small recording studio that grew gradually over the next few years. In 1989, when Eric and his wife, Kate started a family, Eric cut back on performing and concentrated on studio work, which he hoped would provide a stay‑at‑home income. Over the next thirty‑five years, Wellspring blossomed into one the largest music studios in New England. Over eight hundred CDs have been made there, including Esperanza Spaulding’s Grammy-winning debut CD. Artists like Catie Curtis, Martin Sexton, Robbie O’Connell, Vance Gilbert, Terri Lyne Carrington, Crooked Still, and many others made albums at Wellspring, and the studio continues successfully to this day.
Even with a busy studio, Eric kept performing: he played a few festival gigs, took up the mandolin, and started a swing band called Swing Café, with Billy Novick on clarinet and sax, along with other heavyweights from Boston’s jazz scene. He also formed the roots/gospel multi‑ethnic band, Meeting Across the Water, with Louise Grasmere, Fred Griffeth, and Jonathan Singleton, which plays in Boston‑area folk clubs, benefits, churches, and other venues.
In 2018, with his youngest child graduated from college, Eric began work on his first album since 1990. Filled with stories of life through both a child’s and parent’s eyes, is a song cycle starting with the reflections of an expectant father, and concluding with a story of the oldest man at the Thanksgiving table. “Fresh and insightful lyrics, a distinctly expressive voice, and top-notch musicianship ... a real gem” said Catie Curtis of the CD.
In 2019, Eric was invited to play at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival on the New Folk Competition stage. Playing Kerrville and befriending many songwriters inspired Eric to begin writing songs on a regular basis, instead of just one or two a year as in previous decades. In 2021, Eric recorded his album, , largely at home, with accompanying musicians recording their parts remotely. Reckonings received major folk radio airplay, and in February 2022, the album reached #2 on the national folk charts with its song “The Wheel Meets the Road” also landing at #2.
In 2024‑25 Eric began recording another new album centered on the theme of change in its many forms. , released in February 2026, tells stories of immigrants, boys becoming men, aging parents, kitchen appliances, and other poignant and funny stories from Eric’s reflections and experiences.
