The first single — Seth Bernard’s take on a 2010 May Erlewine song — comes out Friday, with new covers by Earthwork Music artists released monthly and a full album out next winter.
Channeling Mutual Respect and Admiration: Some of the Earthwork Music Collective artists participating in the new covers project.
Earthwork Music has given new meaning to the term, “cover band.”
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Stirring His Soul: Seth Bernard covers a song by May Erlewine. (Photo/Anna Sink)
On Friday, the music collective founded by Traverse City-area musician and singer-songwriter Seth Bernard will kick off “Earthwork Covers Earthwork,” a project that will see the community of roots music artists release a new digital single monthly, with “friends covering friends.”
Project coordinator Mark Lavengood, resonator guitarist for Earthwork bluegrass band Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, called it a “multi-faceted” project that will culminate in a full album release next winter.
“It brings awareness to the individuals in the collective two-fold: the artist covering the artist and the artist being covered. It also helps build general awareness toward the collective efforts, while also providing new content for our listeners and fan base to enjoy.”
The first single – being released Friday – represents a family affair: Bernard covers the song, “Please,” by his wife, May Erlewine, a track which originally appeared on her 2010 album, “Golden.” (Check out a live version of “Please” performed by Erlewine and Bernard at the 2015 Grand River Water Festival in a video below.)
CELEBRATING THE ‘RICHNESS OF THE COLLECTIVE’S BODY OF WORK’
Bernard called it a song “that has always stirred my soul and touched the core of my identity. It is of our time and place and it was written by my partner in this life.”
New singles will be released each month, with the full album list still being compiled. Each of the Earthwork collective’s 30-plus artists is choosing a song by another Earthwork artist that they’d like to cover. The selections are sent to Lavengood, who’s reviewing the picks as project manager.
Mark Lavengood (Photo/Anna Sink)
“We hope to be able to channel some of the mutual respect and admiration we have for each other, and to celebrate the richness of the collective’s body of work,” Lavengood said.
It’s another chapter for the region’s music scene as a growing number of Michigan artists turn heads here and elsewhere with songs that resonate with fans as well as fellow musicians. (Indeed, the 2015 winner of NBC’s “The Voice,” Sawyer Fredericks, made waves by covering Erlewine’s song, “Shine On” — a cover version that soared up the iTunes singles chart.)
Fans will pay $10 to pre-order the “Earthwork Covers Earthwork” album, with new singles sent to them digitally each month. They can also choose to purchase and download the original Earthwork Music album by the original artist and get the cover version for free.
Each single, according to Bernard, will feature new artwork by “some of the many brilliant local, independent visual artists in our region.”
The first single features art created by Penny Kriebiehl, a Traverse City-based artist, farmer and educator. Bernard called Kriebiehl “a special auntie” to the Bernards’ daughter, Iris.
Bernard’s cover of Erlewine’s song was recorded at Third Coast Recording in Grand Haven by renowned producer and engineer Bill Chrysler, with help from musicians Joe Hettinga on keyboards, Scott Pellegrom on drums and Joe Sturgill on backing vocals.
“It was a great honor to make music with these fantastic musicians,” Bernard said. “What an amazing place.”
Get more information online at earthworkmusic.com, which will have the first single available after midnight Thursday.
VIDEO: May Erlewine & Seth Bernard, “Please” (Live)
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