Basking in the glow

Davis has released eight albums through Earthwork Music, comprising three solo albums, four albums as frontman of Steppin’ In It and one album with Shout Sister Shout, a collaboration between members of Steppin’ In It and vocalist Rachael Davis.

Earthwork Music also got an unexpected nod from “The Voice” competitor Sawyer Fredericks, who performed “Shine On” on the show’s May 4 broadcast. The tune was written by May Erlewine Bernard, Earthwork Music artist and wife of Earthwork Music’s founder, Seth Bernard.

City Pulse caught up with Seth Bernard to talk about Davis’ run on “The Voice” and its affect on Earthwork Music.

Have you seen a spike in interest in Joshua Davis’ albums? Has his appearance on "The Voice" driven people to check out Earthwork Music?

There has been a wave of new interest and a lot of positive feedback from the community during Josh´s run on “The Voice.” We have seen a rise in web traffic, social networking likes and shares/retweets, more email coming in and a few more sales going out too. When you´ve been at it for a while, it is nice to have more folks pay attention, but we certainly did not see this coming.

I have been a huge fan of Josh´s music for 15 years, and we are also very close friends. I am really excited for the folks who are just discovering Josh through “The Voice” because they still get to discover his whole world of music. He is incredible, and his own songs and his own show are where it´s at. We are all excited for the return of the real deal JD beyond what they let him do on TV. I can´t wait to hear Josh playing his own songs on Michigan soil again.

What was it like for you and May to see "Shine On" on a national TV broadcast?

Hard to describe or really wrap my mind around. We´ve had a challenging few years, losing friends, becoming parents and helping our baby girl through a tough surgery and a long recovery. We didn´t expect that to happen and it did and we held hands and rode the wave. The song had meant a great deal to Sawyer for a long time, and he really wanted to perform it on the show from the very beginning. Apparently his popularity gave him the leverage to get permission to sing a song by an independent singer/songwriter.

When Josh told us that Sawyer was a fan of ours and was thrilled to learn that Josh played with us, we were surprised. It was a “small world” moment. Earthwork Music was created, in part, as an alternative approach to the world of commercial music and the mass media. This is a wave we have been riding, and, though it has been a little scary, it has affirmed that the musical community here is strong and supportive.

What does it say for the state of folk music that two folk artists (Davis and Fredericks) can make the top four on a national reality show?

I still don´t look to “The Voice” for my cues on the state of music, but it does make sense to me that those handsome and talented folky gents are being embraced by the masses. Folks love to hear folk music! Singing from the heart, playing songs that mean something, expressing sincere gratitude — that stuff doesn´t go in and out of style, does it?