Seth Bernard and Daisy May

From Great Lakes Wiki

Seth Bernard and Daisy May © Earthwork Music

Seth Bernard and (Daisy) May Erlewine are an essential example of using culture in a grassroots setting to promote social change.

Seth Bernard and Daisy May at Harvest Gathering 2007 Photo by Andy B.

They preach public activism and environmental stewardship in much of their music, and do so effectively with talent honed at young ages.

They arrived on the Michigan music scene separately in the 1990s and have since gone on to create multiple solo albums, as well as one joint project. The two together with Dominic Suchyta (bass player for Steppin In It), Drew Howard (pedal steel guitar extraordinaire) and Andrea Moreno-Beals (cello player for Breathe Owl Breathe), recorded an album in the historic Calumet Theater in Calumet, Michigan under the title Copper Country Quintet.

Most of their fans in Michigan recognize them as a duo, for they both share a similar passion for Michigan's beauty and the preservation of that beauty.

Popular songs of from the duo's album include 'Am I In Here?' and 'Shine On.'

May's 2006 release Mother Moon is widely popular among fans with songs like 'Rise Up Singing,' 'Big Momma Brown' and 'We Are.' She released a song, "A Letter Downstream," which can be found on Save the Wild UP, a Web site dedicated to the preservation of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the midst of a new proposed sulfide mine on the Yellow Dog Plains.

Seth is currently working on his fourth solo album, which is hoped to be released in early 2008.

The two are artists on the Earthwork Music Collective - a music label that plays host to a variety of Michigan artists. Many of the label's musicians share the ideas of Seth and May, and often perform together.

Seth founded the label and named it after the farm of his parents' that he grew up on, Earthwork Farm. His family hosts an annual music festival on the farm during summer, Harvest Gathering.