Born and raised in Austin, Texas, he grew up in a musical family and was joining rock bands by age 15. After his first couple bands failed, he worked as a session guitarist, gaining industry interest and eventually getting signed by Warner Bros. Records. He released his first album, Tones, in 1986, but it didn't sell well and WB let his contract lapse.
He signed with Capitol Records for his next album, Ah Via Musicom, which became his breakthrough, going platinum and winning him the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Cliffs of Dover". His perfectionism led to a six-year gap before the follow-up, Venus Isle, which didn't perform as well and led to Capitol dropping him.
He joined up with fellow guitar virtuosos Joe Satriani and Steve Vai for the inaugural G3 tour, and has hopped around various independent record labels since, often with long gaps between albums. He joined Satriani and Vai again for the 2024 G3 Reunion Tour.
"Cliffs of Dover" was voted number 17 in Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. It also appears as a playable song in Guitar Hero 3.
His solo albums include:
- Tones (1986)
- Ah Via Musicom (1990)
- Venus Isle (1996)
- Seven Worlds (1998): His first recorded solo album, but held up for 20 years due to various contract disputes.
- Souvenir (2003): a collection of previously-unrelased material sold through his website.
- Bloom (2005)
- Up Close (2010)
- EJ: Explorations on Guitar and Piano (2016)
- Collage (2017)
- EJ Volume II (2020)
- The Book of Making and Yesterday Meets Today (2022)
He has also released several live albums, as well as being included on the live albums of the initial G3 tour and the 2024 reunion.
Tropes found in his work include:
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: In "Off My Mind" from Tones, the phrase 'emotional solitude' accents 'emotional' on the first and (secondarily) third syllables, instead of on the second where it would typically be.
- Album Intro Track: "Ah Via Musicom", the Title Track of the album, is a 2:05 instrumental piece that leads directly into "Cliffs of Dover".
- Break-Up Song: "Off My Mind" from Tones is about trying to forget someone after a messy breakup.
- Celebrity Elegy: An instrumental one. "S.R.V." on the Venus Isle album, is a tribute to his friend and fellow Austin resident Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stevie's older brother Jimmie Vaughan played guitar on it.
- Cover Version: Several of his albums include a cover song:
- "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles on Souvenir
- "My Back Pages" by Bob Dylan on Bloom
- "Texas" by The Electric Flag on Up Close
- Friendship Song: "Friends" from Tones is all about his devotion to and trust in a friend.I have in you, such a good friend.
Friend like as you, there is no end. - Instrumentals: About half of his songs are instrumental, including his three highest-charting singles: "Cliffs of Dover", "Trademark", and "Righteous", all on Ah Via Musicom.
- In the Style of: "S.R.V.", a tribute track to Stevie Ray Vaughan on the Venus Isle album, is in a style very similar to Vaughan's, and includes Stevie's older brother Jimmie Vaughan on guitar.
- New Sound Album: EJ and EJ Volume II are entirely acoustic.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: He sings with a breathy tenor similar to Green Gartside. In interviews, he sounds eerily similar to Jeff Goldblum.
- Title Track: Ah Via Musicom, Venus Isle, and Bloom all open with a title track.