As a singer/songwriter and bandleader, Andy has performed his original songs in shows and concerts across the US and abroad, teaching many a songwriting workshop along the way. His song, Woman in the Wings, from his album, Room for Roots, rose to number two on Roots Music Report’s Americana Country charts, and it stayed in the top ten for two months.
My thanks go out to Andy, and my admiration, for putting words together in such a powerful way.
— Eric Nagler
Canadian artist, The Elephant Show & Eric’s World (CBC)
Andy’s songs have also been recorded by others and used in critically-acclaimed projects. Eric Nagler recorded The Sweetest Story Ever Told (MaySongs) and included it on his Juno Award-nominated MCA album, Can’t Sit Down. He also performed it on his Gemini Award-nominated CBC TV series Eric’s World. Other songs of Andy’s have been featured in TV documentaries, and Love, Turn a Heart Around (MaySongs) was used as the theme song in a Larimer County, CO, United Way fundraising campaign that raised $1,000,000.
Andy started writing and performing his songs as a teen in the 1960s. He had his first concert as a songwriter at Izzy Young‘s iconic Folklore Center in New York City in 1970. (Izzy had given Bob Dylan his first concert, too, in 1961.) During that time, he also worked briefly with Brill Building songwriter and producer, Artie Resnick (Under the Boardwalk, Good Lovin’).
I’ve always believed in the songs of Andy & Lauren May.
— Harry Warner
Former Executive Vice President, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
Andy has been co-writing with his wife, Lauren, since the late 1980s. Six of his eight albums on Swift River Music include songs they have written together. He also co-writes with clients, helping them develop their ideas into finished songs. He and Lauren co-wrote his fan fave, Ruby Lee (Room for Roots), with production client, Ronnie Young.
Lauren LeCroy May
Lauren has been a lyricist since she could speak and an avid listener through the years of many types of music (with words, mostly!). Until she met Andy, however, her professional life had been as a biologist focused on wildlife, wild lands, and sustainable agriculture. She spent three years in West Africa (two of them as a Peace Corps Volunteer) working on wildlife and range projects.
Among other things, Lauren has farmed with horses; trained horses, oxen, and dogs; banded birds; radio-tracked coyotes; studied rangeland plant communities; led trail rides; and hiked the wilderness. She is a Wildlife Biologist, a Range Scientist, a Natural Resource Economist, and a Wilson County, Tennessee, Master Gardener. All of these experiences, in addition to a natural bent for observing relationships and surroundings and distilling them into poetry, have informed and enriched her writing, giving it unique and appealing texture and depth.
Andy’s ability to create the perfect musical score for Lauren’s lyrics has resulted in a joint catalog of remarkable variety and character.