Eric Crawford holds a Ph.D. in musicology from The Catholic University of America. His research focuses on the rich tradition of Gullah music, specifically the retentions and alterations that have occurred since the antebellum period. Beginning in 2007, he conducted extensive field recordings on Saint Helena Island, site of the historic Port Royal Experiment, and his transcriptions are held at the Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
In 2013, he participated in the Saint Helena Island Gullah Spirituals project, which was a collaborative effort among scholars and students to preserve and foster the study of the earliest recorded Negro spirituals. In 2014, The Atheneaum Press released a CD of his field recordings and accompanying booklet to the general public. Crawford is currently working on his book on the Saint Helena Island spirituals entitled De Ole Sheep Done Know De Road: In Search of the Gullah Spiritual, and he is conducting field recordings on historic Sandy Island, South Carolina.