Jan 27, 2020 By Christopher Roberts

The In Memoriam segment at this year’s The Grammy Awards failed to include some influential musicians: Scott Walker, David Berman (Silver Jews, Purple Mountains), Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis, The Prodigy’s Keith Flint, and more. On top of that, they misspelled Ric Ocasek from The Cars’ name. More

Aug 30, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Animal Collective (in this case members Avey Tare, aka David Portner, and Geologist, aka Brian Weitz) have shared a cover of Silver Jews’ “Ballad of Reverend War Character” in tribute to David Berman of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, who took his own life earlier this month. More

Aug 22, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Swedish sister alt-country/folk duo First Aid Kit (Klara and Johanna Söderberg) have shared a new song, “Strange Beauty,” in tribute to David Berman of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, who took his own life earlier this month. They have also shared a cover of Silver Jews’ “Random Rules,” from 1998’s American Water. More

Aug 12, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

David Berman passed away last Wednesday. Over the weekend, The New York Times confirmed that he took his own life. We posted our own tribute to Berman on Friday. Now his longtime label Drag City have posted their own moving tribute to Berman. Read it below.

Aug 09, 2019 By Timothy Michalik

America lost one of its greatest contemporary songwriters on Wednesday. It also lost its most aberrant, bizarre, and beautiful writer. Would it have gone any other way? For an artist so obsessed with mythologizing the self, I don’t think so. More

Aug 08, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

David Berman passed away yesterday and in our post last night we included social media tributes from many of his fellow musicians. Since then several others have also paid tribute to Berman, most notably his original Silver Jews bandmates Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. You can read their tributes here, along with some from other musicians. More

Aug 07, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

David Berman has died. The 52-year-old was best known as the frontman (and sole constant member) of Silver Jews. But he recently returned to music after a long hiatus with a new project, Purple Mountains. Fellow musicians have paid tribute on social media. More

Jun 12, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Purple Mountains is the new project of David Berman, who was previously the frontman (and sole constant member) of Silver Jews. Berman’s self-titled debut album under the Purple Mountains name is due out July 12 via Drag City. Now he has shared another song from it, “Darkness and Cold,” via a video for the track. More

Jul 05, 2012 By Laura Studarus

Out now via Drag City, Silver Jews’ Early Times is pretty much what the name implies—a reissued collection of early recordings by the band. Still haven’t picked up a copy? Today the band issued a little extra encouragement in the form of a promo video. More

May 30, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

On June 19 Drag City will release Early Times, a compilation album collecting a number of early recordings by the Silver Jews. More