This is an extended version of the preceding "Remembering David Berman" feature that was uploaded on October 11th, 2022.
Between 1994 and 1996, poet and songwriter David Berman made his home at the University of Massachusetts Amherst while pursuing a masters in poetry under Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Tate. By then, his band Silver Jews had already released two EP’s, Dime Map of the Reef and The Arizona Record, through the Chicago label Drag City Records, but during his time in Amherst his career truly began with the release of 1994’s Starlite Walker. After 1996’s The Natural Bridge, he would release four more albums with Silver Jews and his only collection of poetry, 1999’s Actual Air, before Berman receded from the public in 2009. He would not release any new music until 2019’s eponymous Purple Mountains, which would be his last album. David Berman took own his life on August 7, 2019 in Brooklyn, New York.
WMUA News Editor, Owen Embury, spoke with a longtime friend of Berman’s, Bob Nastanovich, about their time in college, his body of work, and David’s lifelong battle with his mental health.
This episode was produced and edited by Owen Embury.
