David Berkeley
- View tour dates.
- Web site: www.davidberkeley.com
- MySpace: www.myspace.com/davidberkeley
- Label: Straw Man
Recently transplanted back to Atlanta from the tiny mountain village of Tralonca, Corsica (pop. 37—including David), David Berkeley’s story is the story of so many indie musicians: He first sang publicly at age 4 in the company of a traveling saleswoman. They went door to door, and young David sang to help her sales. He honed his musical skills at a nursery school run by hippies, where young female teachers wore guitars around their necks (and in David’s memory, nothing else). “My first crush was Miss Judy,” David recalls. “She had an old Gibson and flowers in her hair. I was 5 and fell pretty hard.”
There is a profound depth in David Berkeley’s songs, a refreshing honesty, and his delivery is unaffected. The New York Times’ Jon Pareles praised Berkeley’s “lustrous, melancholy voice.” He heard “shades of Tim Buckley and Nick Drake” in David’s music, a comparison also made by Rollingstone.com. Pareles went on to write, “as [Berkeley’s] melodies ascend to benedictions and consolations, the music shimmers and peals.” Atlanta’s Creative Loafing writes that, “Berkeley crafts his songs like watercolor paintings, intimate and introspective.” Relix calls David “one of the most promising young singers to emerge in recent times.”
Berkeley was featured in October on the NPR national radio series Ira Glass’ This American Life, on which he plays songs and tells a hilarious story of a most awkward private performance. David's version of "Love's the Only Thing That Shuts Me Up" is track 4 on the new Mark
Mulcahy tribute record, out on Shout Factory Sept 26th, 2009. Other
artists include Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, The National, Ben Kweller,
Frank Black, Dinosaur Jr and Josh Rouse. Berkeley is Paste Magazine’s “Emergent Artist” in the Feb ’09 issue. An original song of his was featured prominently in the CBS-TV hit series ‘Without a Trace’ and he participated in the Jeep Compass Music Tour, during which David was given a new Jeep and a tour manager and performed over 50 shows in 30 days. David’s music was featured in an international promo campaign by iTunes, Coke and Paste Magazine. He received ASCAP's Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award and is one of WXPN's Artists to Watch. He showcased at South by Southwest two years in a row and his last studio album After the Wrecking Ships has sold over 10,000 copies. Berkeley’s Live from Fez CD/DVD, captures a single show with David's full band before the legendary New York City listening room closed. The album is now distributed in the US and UK. Berkeley’s new album, Strange Light, was released in May ’09.
Born in the Garden State, David Berkeley graduated from Harvard, where he studied literature and philosophy. After living in Brooklyn, a stint in Santa Fe (working for Outside Magazine), Alaska (writing for Let’s Go Alaska), Idaho (where he worked for 5 summers as a whitewater rafting guide), Santa Cruz and Corsica, France, Berkeley now lives with his wife and 2-year-old son Jackson in Atlanta.
Berkeley maintains a near constant touring schedule, performing all over the US, UK and France. He has shared bills with Dido, Billy Bragg, Don McLean, toured with Nickel Creek, Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, Ray Lamontagne, Howie Day, Rhett Miller, Rachael Yamagata, Gary Jules, Vienna Teng, Joseph Arthur, Hem, Mason Jennings, Ben Lee. Berkeley has a history of sold out dates in NY, Philly, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, LA, Chicago. Radio stations across the country (including WXPN—Philadelphia, WFUV—NYC, WXRV—Boston, KCRW—Los Angeles, KPFA—Bay Area, KTBG—Kansas City, WTMD—Maryland, WICN—New England, WCFR—Amherst, GPB—Georgia, XM Satellite Radio…) and around the world play Berkeley’s music.
For inquiries contact:
Management - Alan Wolmark at alan@cecmgmt.com / 212-206-6765
UK dates – Harry Farmer at harry@harryfarmeragency.com
Radio – Lindsay Reid at Lindsay@thirtytigers.com / 919-768-1103
Press – Jeff Kilgour at jeff@tijuanagiftshop.net / 917-678-4420