David Berman was born January 4, 1967 in Williamsburg, Virginia. He attended high school at Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, before matriculating at the University of Virginia. While in Charlottesville, Virginia, Berman began writing and performing songs (often left on friends'' voice message machines) with his loose band, Ectoslavia, primarily composed of UVA classmates Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Upon graduation, David moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, where the shared an apartment with Malkmus and Nastanoich. This was where ''Silver Jews'' was first used as a name for his music. Back home in California, Malkmus had started another band, Pavement, with old friend Scott Kannberg. Not long after the release of Pavement''s debut album, Slanted and Enchanted (which was named after a cartoon Berman had created), Dan Koretzky, founder of the Chicago-based indie label Drag City, met Berman. When he heard of the Jews'' tapes, Koretzky offered to release them.
On their first single and EP for the label, 1992''s "Dime Map of the Reef" and 1993''s "The Arizona Record," respectively, the band held to their ultra lo-fi aesthetic and recorded the majority of both on a Walkman. Berman then enrolled in a graduate writing program at the University of Massachusetts where he mixed with local bands like Scud Mountain Boys and New Radiant Storm King. While there, Berman prepared songs for a full-length Silver Jews album, which became 1994''s Starlite Walker , a studio-recorded set which shone light on the Jews'' sophisticated take on country indie and avant styles. It was met with an unprecedented acclaim. Berman''s poems began seeing publication in journals and periodicals around the country. Meanwhile, he planned to record the next Silver Jews album with Malkmus, Nastanovich, and the Scud Mountain Boys, but sessions were discontinued after a few days. Berman convened in the summer of 1996 with members of New Radiant Storm King and Drag City producer Rian Murphy for The Natural Bridge , which continued to streamline the Silver Jews'' sound and let Berman''s rich, abstract lyrics and reflective vocals take center stage. Berman then relocated to New York City, and for 1998''s American Water , Stephen Malkmus returned to Silver Jews.
His guitar and vocal interplay with Berman places it among the Silver Jews'' strongest--and most popular--efforts. In 1999, Berman''s first collection of poetry, Actual Air , was published by Open City Books, receiving postitive reviews and selling several thousand copies. In early 2003, The Houston, TX theater group Infernal Bridegroom Productions staged an interpretation of Actual Air, featuring selected poems from Berman''s book and three live versions of Silver Jews songs. Berman relocated to Nashville, TN, and the Silver Jews returned in 2001 with Bright Flight , which was recorded there with some session cats as well as Berman''s wife Cassie. During this time, Berman struggled through an intense period of depression and substance abuse. In 2003, he attempted suicide by using crack-cocaine, alcohol, and the prescription drug Xanax. Berman would later credit it as "an incredible blessing," because he became more deeply involved with Judaism--a period of recovery captured in the 2008 documentary film "Silver Jew." Following the release of Tanglewood Numbers in 2005, Berman surprised fans by announcing that Silver Jews would tour for the first time ever in their dozen-year history.
The shows were rapturously received, and for the next three years, Silver Jews toured internationally to great response. Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea , the Silver Jews sixth studio album, was released in June 2008, but subsequent to the promotional cycle for the album, on January 22, 2009, Berman announced that he would be retiring the Silver Jews and retiring himself from making music. A final show was played at Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN on January 31, 2009, and was aired on Nashville''s revered WSM AM radio station.