Sunday, June 1, 2025, singer-songwriter and storyteller Michael Gutierrez-May will take the stage at the Hotel Vernon Shiproom in Worcester for a special ISSA Boston/Northeast Songwriting Showcase, joined by fellow artists Bernie Drury, Tim Maynard, and Peter L’Esperance. From 3 to 5 PM, audiences will hear songs rooted in the land, lived experience, and enduring truths. But for Gutierrez-May, this performance also shines a spotlight on his latest single and album centerpiece, “Light Still Shines The Same.”

Released in December 2024 as part of the album of the same name, “Light Still Shines The Same” is a lyrical and meditative reckoning with the legacy of colonization in North America. The song reflects on the European settlement of Indigenous lands and the generations of struggle that followed. Yet it doesn’t stop at despair — instead, it calls attention to resilience, unity, and the unchanging light of the Great Spirit that shines on all people.