“I don't think any songwriter who comes up through playing clubs can really claim to have independently developed their art. All along the way so much information is coming, the writer inside the performer unconsciously reacts to all of that. By the time they get to be thirty, the writer is gone.”

American musician, singer-songwriter and poet

David Cloud Berman was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and poet. He founded the indie rock band Silver Jews and remained its only constant member, alongside Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman worked across music and poetry, and Silver Jews became the project most closely associated with his name. His writing and lyrics are linked to the same dry, observant sensibility that shaped his work as a poet and songwriter.