Music artist Seth Glier has discovered a whole new world in the forest – mushrooms!  His new single “It’s Everything” stemmed from his new obsession.

Seth explains, “the earth speaks to us in a myriad of ways. Through ice cores. Through uplift and erosion. Through tree rings. Through geological formations. All of these are languages that we have the potential to restore our literacy in.

When I picked up the chanterelle mushroom and brought it towards my nose I first smelled sweet apricot and then my spine straightened suddenly and the heels of my feet pressed harder into the recently rain soaked earth. The feeling was like déjà vu. I had done this once before. A long time ago. Foraging was new to me. I had only been learning about spore prints and identification for a few months at this point. The only thing I knew for certain was just how little I know about mushrooms. Still, My body remembered that I had identified this mushroom once before. Perhaps this was some past life or some ancient ancestral memory (my people are of German & Russian mushroom loving descent) but this feeling of déjà vu has come to me several times in my life and I’ve learned to trust it as something important.

I was first turned onto mushrooms by my goddaughters fascination with them. For a while she was right at mycorrhizal height. Very quickly I became obsessed with foraging for wild edible mushrooms and started spending 10 hours a week in the woods trying to tell the difference between something delicious and something that would make me talk to God for a week. That first summer I found Lion’s Mane, Pearl Oysters, Maitake, Chanterelles, Black Trumpets, Chicken Of The Woods, Parasols, Honey Mushrooms, Turkey Tail, Rishi, and I was hooked. In foraging I learned to see the subtleties of the ground. I felt like I was rewilding myself and reconnecting with a knowledge I had already known before.

As the hens and honeys of October started drying up and several foraging hikes came back empty, I began growing mushrooms in the guest room of my home. Yes, I have an amazingly open minded wife. Soon I was growing about 20 lbs of mushrooms per week off of birch sawdust substrate and now have a growing tent, controlled humidifier, and air pump to circulate oxygen. I learned that I loved being around mushrooms. They are creative, they are competitive, they are intelligent, and I am in awe of them.

Foraging has also connected me with fellow foragers. I wrote “It’s Everything” after a meal I had with two friends who have been foraging wild rice from the Connecticut river from their kayaks. They prepared rice three ways and I, of course, foraged oyster mushrooms. We sat around the fire and ate our bounty and mostly talked about how long it took to collect, clean, and prepare the food. We could taste the place in our mouth. Each bit felt like an act of rebellion just as much as it was a reconnection with the land, with each other, and with everything around us.”



“It’s Everything” is off of Glier’s new album “Everything”.

Glier will be taking a break from his mushroom foraging for a tour.  Crys Matthews and Tom Rush will be joining Glier on some of the dates.

Seth Glier tour dates:
Feb 3 at Six on the Square in Oxford, NY
Feb 10 at Eight Step in Schenectady, NY
Feb 15 at Café Eleven in St. Augustine, FL
Feb 16 at the Craftsmen House in ST. Petersburg, FL
Feb 17 at the Wiley House Concert in Clearwater, FL
Feb 23 at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, PA
Feb 24 at Nights at Beekley in New Hartford, CT
Feb 29 at the Cloudland Theatre in Minneapolis, MN
March 1 at the Rieder Homestead in Delano, MN
March 4 at the House of Lyrics in Grand Haven, MI
March 5 at Midtown in Grand Rapids, MI
March 6 at The Ark in Ann Arbor, MI
March 7 at Natalie’s in Columbus, OH
March 9 at the City Winery in Nashville, TN
March 30 at The Showroom in Keene, NH
April 18 at The Spire Center in Plymouth, MA
April 26 at The Baby Grand in Wilmington, DE
April 27 at the Newton Theatre in Newton, PA
April 28 at the Turning Point in Peirmont, NY