On a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles, musician Eric D. Johnson is packing a suitcase full of scarves.
"I'm actually flying tomorrow to New York for a one-off Bonny Light Horseman show this weekend," he says. "It'll be cold. In LA, we don't really have winter – just pleasant weather at all times."Eric has been home for the last two weeks, having spent most of the last three years heavily touring the world as part of the folk trio Bonny Light Horseman. The band just returned from Europe and the UK, just as that continent's winter began creeping in.
This year, Eric will be taking in the sunshine when the acclaimed trio make the maiden voyage to Australia, including bringing their magical live show to such festivals as ΩHM Festival (Brisbane), Brunswick Music Festival (Melbourne), Port Fairy Folk Festival, Golden Plains (Meredith), and WOMADelaide (Adelaide).
Back in 2007, Eric made his first and only voyage down under as a member of The Shins during that band's tour behind their third album, 'Wincing The Night Away'. "Our big single was called 'Australia'," he mentions.
However, Eric is the frontman of American indie rock band Fruit Bats, where he has honed his songwriting across 10 albums over 23 years. It was because of Fruit Bats that he connected with his Bonny Light Horseman bandmates, Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman.
"Anaïs and I had just become acquainted with each other through the dumbest way possible, which was through Twitter," Eric says. "She had shouted me out, which is always flattering when someone you respect is like, 'I like your band', and I was like, 'I like your music, too'. It was an innocent time, but now it's like, screw that place," he laughs.
Both Anaïs and Josh are also well-respected musicians. Josh has worked as a musician and producer with the likes of The National, The Hold Steady, and Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, Anaïs adapted the Greek myth of Orpheus into a concept album, which in turn was adapted into the acclaimed award-winning musical, 'Hadestown'.
The pair both live close-by to each other in New York, where they first came up with the idea to collaborate, asking Eric to join and become Bonny Light Horseman. "I always joke I invited myself along," he says.
"I had just caught wind of this project, and just in my brain I was like, 'I'd like to do something with Josh. I'd like to do something folky. I'd like to dust off the banjo. I'd like to do something collaborative.' We shortly thereafter got together, and it was really cool. Anais and I sang really well together – it's not always easy to just sing with someone."
After a successful first gig at Eaux Claires Festival – founded by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon andAaron Dessner of The National – in 2018, the band recorded their 2020 debut self-titled album, scoring Grammy nominations for their hard work.
The trio have great chemistry, spurring a large volume of songs in their short time together. Last year, the band released their third record, a double album titled 'Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free'. "We work well together," Eric says.
"We've often likened it to the theory behind improv comedy where you never say no, you say 'yes and...'. Everything is a yes, but you add your own thing, so there's layers and deconstructions and things like that.
"For whatever reason, whatever it is about our personalities or who we are or where we're at in life, we can really sit down in a room together and bang something out.
"Some of the songs I don't really know who started what, and some of them the three of us built from ground up in one room; and we've made three records now that way, and we've gotten better at it, especially on this last one."
The new album was recorded in a pub in Ballydehob, a small town on the west coast of Ireland. The location came after Anaïs interviewed Joe O'Leary, the pub's owner, for the website Talkhouse. "[Joe] created this artistic haven there," Eric says. "It's such a small town and such a welcoming place that we had become friends with half the town at that point.
"We had a guest list of people come for the last day of recording, and we actually recorded it. It wasn't exactly a live concert, but we were recording with people observing us in real time, kind of thinking, 'maybe we'll use some of it, maybe we won't'. I think 60 per cent of the record came from that night. It was very magical."
Bonny Light Horseman will bring that magic to Australia this February-March, and Eric will be packing his summer clothes. "I want to make a little holiday for myself at the beginning or the end of the tour, or maybe a little bit of both. Josh and Anais both have kids, so they usually have to hurry back, and I don't so I'll make a little vacation out of it."
Bonny Light Horseman 2025 Tour Dates
Thu 27 Feb - The Eltham (Melbourne)Fri 28 Feb - ΩHM Festival @ Brisbane Powerhouse
Sat 1 Mar - Angelsea Memorial Hall (Surf Coast)
Tue 4 Mar - Theatre Royal (Castlemaine)
Wed 5 Mar - Brunswick Music Festival (Melbourne)
Fri 7 Mar - Port Fairy Folk Festival
Sat 8 Mar - Golden Plains (Meredith)
Mon 10 Mar - WOMADelaide (Adelaide)
Tue 11 Mar - City Recital Hall (Sydney)
