Uncommon Ground ^ David Berkeley

David Berkeley
Imagine a road trip in Nick Drake’s old car, give Ryan Adams a seat, Grant Lee Phillips is there, maybe Beck has the wheel and Joni Mitchell is giving directions. The music they’d listen to would be pretty close to the music of David Berkeley. His voice is warm like a tumbler of bourbon.

Berkeley recently 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 (in the ASCAP showcase this past spring), an original song of his was featured prominently in CBS-TV's Without a Trace, and his latest studio CD After the Wrecking Ships (recorded in a converted basement in New Paltz and now distributed through RedEye) has sold over 10,000 copies. Berkeley’s newest CD, Live from Fez, captures a single show with David's full band--their final show, in fact, before the legendary NY listening room closed. It's the only album ever released from Fez and captures Berkeley at his emotional and comic best. "We wanted to give something back to the place that basically developed us," Berkeley explains. "Fez was really our home for a couple pivotal years. And I wanted to let people see and hear a show without any studio magic. I wouldn't have done it anywhere but Fez."

Born 28 years ago in the Garden State, David Berkeley’s earliest memory actually is of singing in public. He was three. His babysitter would walk him around the neighborhood (while selling Avon products), and his neighbors would ask David to sing. They’d give him cookies in exchange. This had a Pavlovian effect on David, as he realized his voice could get him food. A couple decades later (still singing), Berkeley graduated from Harvard where he studied literature and philosophy. After living in Brooklyn, a stint in Santa Fe, Alaska, Idaho and Santa Cruz, Berkeley now lives in Atlanta.

Berkeley has toured with Ben Folds, Nickel Creek, Howie Day. He has opened for Dido, Rufus Wainwright, Ray Lamontagne, Rhett Miller, Rachael Yamagata, Gary Jules, Ed Harcourt, , Joseph Arthur, Hem, Marah, Mofro, Mason Jennings, Vienna Teng, Nicolai Dunger, Melissa Ferrick, Amy Correia, Ben Lee…He maintains a near constant touring schedule, playing clubs across the country (venues like the Bowery Ballroom, the Iron Horse, Joe’s Pub, Cafe Du Nord, Passim, The Tin Angel, the Ark).
Rollingstone writes “Berkeley has wrung out all that he's absorbed in his trials and travels and spilled it onto tape, true and unaffected.” Atlanta’s Creative Loafing calls his music “intimate and introspective. Berkeley crafts his songs like watercolor paintings.” Radio stations across the country (including KCRW in Los Angeles, WFUV in NYC, WXPN in Philadelphia, WICN in central New England, WCFR out of Amherst, KPFA in the Bay Area, WTMD in Maryland, XM Satellite Radio…) and around the world play Berkeley’s music.