Seth Bernard headlines new-look LivelyLands

By Ross Boissoneau

Sun contributor

What do you call someone who combines activism with health, wellness and mindfulness? Who founded a recording label and an all-things-to-all-people festival, both named for his family farm? Oh, don’t forget to throw in gifts as a singer, songwriter and musician known for collaborating with others from across the musical spectrum, and plying those gifts for the benefit of others.

The answer, of course, is Seth Bernard. One of Michigan’s favorite musical sons, he is returning to LivelyLands with cellist and good friend Jordan Hamilton in tow. They will open the festival’s new season June 16, a.k.a. Father’s Day. Groove-based world music jam band SoSoHiFi will close the show.

The show will include songs from their catalogs and other material perfect for the holiday. “I’m thinking a special family-friendly set,” says Bernard. “I do men’s retreats, lots of counseling with men, so it’s a chance to come up with a (special) set. I’ll weave in some songs kids love.

“Jordan and I are friends and have played together for years. He’s a songwriter, a rapper, a beautiful classical player,” he says, with some solo space for each of them as well as playing as a duo.

Bernard is perhaps as well-known for his humanitarian endeavors and activism as his music. He’s involved and invested in a number of projects in communities across the state and beyond, including the Clean Water Campaign, Musical Ambassador Program, SEEDS youth programs, Collaborative Songwriting for Collective Liberation songwriting workshop, and numerous other efforts.

Bernard also has a long-standing connection to the Middle East. He mourns the lives lost in the conflict there. He’s collaborated with and has friends in both Israel and Gaza. Add that to the war in Ukraine and the divisions domestically, plus the COVID-19 pandemic that still affects us, and he knows it is easy to give in to despair. “The situations in the world affect us all.”

He continues his efforts to provide healing through workshops, meetings and his performances. “Music is still an opportunity to express our shared humanity,” he says.

Bernard has also had his share of health woes, eventually leading to enforced time off from virtually all his activities last year. A series of illnesses, including gastritis, anemia, debilitating back pain and sleeplessness, were ultimately diagnosed as symptoms of Lyme disease. He then contracted COVID, and subsequently, Long COVID.

He was unable to perform for several months—doubly frustrating as he’d just released a new album he planned to promote. “I had to bow out during the busy season, July and August,” he explains.

A number of his friends and collaborators came together for a fundraiser show last fall at the Alluvion, where they performed his music for him. Hoxeyville Music Festival founder and longtime friend Jake Robinson told West Michigan music website Local Spins that it was a privilege to do so as Bernard’s “love, bravery and intent are unmatched.”

Bernard is humbled and thankful for those who came together to show their love. “We all go through times when we have to ask for help. I had to focus on my health, physical therapy, sacro rotation.”

He returned to the road this spring, though he’s careful not to overdo it. “I’m easing back into it, not doing as many days in a row.” While Bernard is on the mend and back touring, the fundraiser is ongoing. Those wishing to donate can find a link on our website, GlenArborSun.com. [tinyurl.com/yjbyk7xh]

The Lively Lands Summer Sun Sets is a three-part series, a switch from its previous iteration as a single three-day event. Founder Emily Lively says the change was made in deference to the vagaries of northern Michigan weather and the fact township regulations allow for up to three events per year. “We’re so subject to weather,” she says. “This way, if one gets rained out, we still have two others.”

As for the performers, she says including this show and upcoming artists the Accidentals, Laura Rain and the Elizabeth Landry Trio continues the festival’s tradition of eclectic lineups. “We wanted to stick to our ethos with a mix of musical types,” she says.

Booking Bernard and Hamilton was an easy choice. “He played the first Lively Lands,” Lively explains, and they share interest in various issues and have become good friends. When Bernard and Hamilton played at South By Southwest when Lively was working for the Austin cultural festival, they stayed with her and her husband Robert Chacon, Jr., in their apartment.

So, too, was the closing act. “SoSoHiFi has been on our radar for a while,” she says, describing the band as incredible musicians whose energetic, funky sound is perfect to wrap up the evening.

Tickets are $35. Children 12 and under are admitted free of charge and encouraged to get up close in the front row kid zone. The campsite on the property is also open for those who want to spend the night. For more information, visit LivelyLands on Facebook.