Called “one of the most multi-talented artists you will ever come across” by Grassrootsy, emay is a songwriting musician, recording artist and performer. she is also a producer, visual artist, teacher, author and homesteading beekeeper.
EMay is an award-winning songwriter, soulful singer, exceptional fingerpicking guitarist, and eclectic musician. She is most frequently compared to Alanis Morissette (whom she has studied with), Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman and Janis Joplin. Voted a “West Virginia Wonder Woman” in 2021, EMay has been honored with several awards and grants for her art and music, such as a Heinz Endowments Pittsburgh Creativity Project award for her “many contributions to our cultural landscape”, New Music USA, and the Mid-Atlantic Songwriters’ Association.
as an artist, emay has recorded and self-released 13 albums, as emay as well as in collaboration with the experimental rock band The Moon My Twin, the doom-metal group Black Yo)))ga Meditation Ensemble, Turkish Folk project Kirik Hava, and acoustic trio Between Liberties. She appears on dozens of other artists’ recordings.
EMay’s debut studio album, 2019’s 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, lucinda williams) keyboardist Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers), percussionist Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra, Richard Thompson Trio) and bassist Taras Prodaniuk (Richard Thompson Trio, Merle Haggard band).
She has also performed extensively, with B&E, an acoustic duo with her sweetheart, mantra and meditative yoga music as AHYAME, party band The Sectionals, and as a session musician. She has performed alongside 10,000 Maniacs, Rusted Root, Dar Williams, Loudon Wainwright III, The Black Lilies; at TEDx, Stanford University, The Purple Fiddle. She is a long-time student of W. A. Matthieu, with many other notable teachers including Alanis Morisette, Jorma Kaukonnen, Natalie Goldberg, Allyson Grey, Alex Grey, Michael Azgour, Brenda Hillman, Zafira Dance Company, Nick Woolsey, and Cindy Chung; she carries certificates from The Himalayan Institute, Stanford CS, Carnegie Mellon and Dana Hall School.
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 homesteads and keeps bees with her love. she also produces retreat-style recording sessions for other musicians, leads immersive retreats for yogis and aspiring artists, creates paintings and essays, hosts special events, and wanders the mountainsides with her beloved dogs.
For more on her non-musical adventures, visit erikamay.com.
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