A soulful singer, exceptional fingerpicking guitarist and eclectic songwriter, EMay is most frequently compared to Alanis Morisette, Grace Potter, Joni Mitchell or Janis Joplin, and is poised to sit in the upper echelon of female singer-songwriters.
EMay’s most recent album, Let Out Your Ghosts, was produced by multiple Grammy-award winner Jimmy Hoyson and features 10-tracks of alternative folk-rock from the greats who invented the genre: guitarist Marc Ford (The Black Crowes, Marc Ford & The Neptune Blues Club, The Magpie Salute) keyboardist Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers), percussionist Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra, Richard Thompson, The Toadies) and bassist Taras Prodaniuk (Richard Thompson, Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams).
EMay’s songs reflect her life. She sings of the wildness of nature – both the great outdoors and the vast wilderness in a human heart. She writes about human potential, overcoming struggles, and our fragile but indelible connection to the web of life.
She currently fronts the experimental rock band The Moon My Twin, as well as B&E, an acoustic duo with her sweetheart, YAME yoga music ensemble, and many unique and genre-bending collaborations. She has recorded and performed with doom-metal group Black Yo)))ga Meditation Ensemble, Turkish Folk project Kirik Hava, acoustic trio Between Liberties, party rock band The Sectionals and as a session musician.
EMay has independently released six CDs since 2011. She has performed alongside 10,000 Maniacs, Rusted Root, Dar Williams, Loudon Wainwright III, The Black Lilies; at TedX, Stanford University, The Purple Fiddle and many more. She has studied with Alanis Morisette, Jorma Kaukonnen, Zoe Jakes, Anne Randolph and loves learning something new from everyone she comes across.
After growing up in the Boston suburbs and spending many years in Pittsburgh, EMay now lives at Healthberry Farm in the rural mountains of West Virginia, where she is a beekeeper and grows most of her own food. At this serene utopia, she presents farmhouse concerts, hosts artist retreats, offers creative workshops, and runs a teaching and recording studio in the farm’s strawbale cabin.
For more on her other non-musical adventures, visit erikamay.com.
EMAY/music 