david-berman-rip

Stephen Malkmus, Mountain Goats, Kevin Morby, members of The National, Nada Surf, more pay tribute to David Berman

David Berman Purple Mountains

The terrible news that David Berman, the man behind Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, has died has has been a real shock, and there have been an outpouring of tributes from fellow artists. Among them, former Silver Jews member Stephen Malkmus who wrote, “His death is fucking dark ..depression is crippling.. he was a one of a kinder the songs he wrote were his main passion esp at the end. Hope death equals peace cuz he could sure use it.” Bob Nastanovich, who was also in Silver Jews (and Pavement), told Pitchfork:

I was saddened to hear that David died. Stephen called me to tell me this afternoon.

For most of my life, I was amazed by David as a person, a humorist and a writer. It was enlightening to have such a talented friend at a young age and realize that the talent wasn’t always a blessing.

David battled mental illness for nearly all of his life. He had professional help and the unyielding support of hundreds of good friends. He had many loving and devoted fans.

Please try to cherish your memories of him and his words and music including his last album Purple Mountains.

I know I will and I’m grateful that the list of good memories and stories is long.

There have been many, many more tributes, including ones from The Mountain Goats, Kurt Vile, Superchunk, Stevie Jackson of Belle & Sebastian, Aaron Dessner of The National, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf,  Carl Newman of New Pornographers, Josh Ritter, Titus Andronicus, Japanese Breakfast, Marc Maron, Geoff Rickly, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, Lower Dens, Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak, Rob Taylor of Los Campesinos!, Dressy Bessy, Ryley Walker, Craig Finn, Ted Leo, The Avalanches, El-P, and more. Read those tributes below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B04ZHbAFsiC/?igshid=1sq56e89bnztp

https://twitter.com/thebrianfallon/status/1159333566091812865

https://twitter.com/ryleywalker/status/1159256205228797954

https://twitter.com/therealelp/status/1159258638655139842