Biography
Samuel Seth Bernard and May Erlewine operate as Michigan-rooted contemporary folk artists who have issued recordings and staged concerts both together and on their own. Each grew up in the state within musically inclined households that prized self-reliance, and the pair first crossed paths in 2003 at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, where Bernard appeared under the name Seth Barnard while Erlewine was present as an audience member. Their shared command of songwriting and stagecraft, coupled with overlapping affinities for folk, blues, and rock, quickly drew them into a musical partnership that later evolved into a personal relationship. That same year Erlewine, performing under her longstanding childhood nickname Daisy May, issued her debut album on Earthwork Music, the independent imprint tied to Bernard’s family-run collective farm that had already put out two of his own projects. Their initial joint effort, the 2006 Earthwork release titled Seth Bernard and Daisy May, documented several seasons of duo touring. Alongside fellow members of the Earthwork Collective, the two became regular performers at the farm’s yearly Harvest Gathering, an event showcasing regional independent acts alongside advocacy for sustainable, environmentally conscious causes. They have remained active within Midwestern circles that blend music and ecological activism, carrying those themes to audiences nationwide and into Mexico, where they joined workshops with indigenous musicians in 2008. By 2009 Erlewine had returned to her given name May, Bernard had likewise adopted Samuel Seth Bernard, and those names appeared on their follow-up collaboration, Welcome Home.