Singer-songwriter-author David Berkeley has released his sixth album, Cardboard Boat , along with his accompanying novella, The Free Brontosaurus. The songs on the album are sung from the perspective of each story's main character. This pairing of songs with stories follows Berkeley's initial book/album combination: 140 Goats and a Guitar. That book comprised thirteen stories, each of which set up a song on his fourth album, Some Kind of Cure. His tour, in support of the new release, will take him to the South Orange Public Library on October 5.
Earlier this week, CBS News debuted the full stream of Cardboard Boat, which begins with an ominous bowed bass and ends with the ethereal tinkling of metals. In between, we get Berkeley's carefully fingerpicked guitar, banjos, trumpets, organ, string sections, nylon and electric guitars and a whole array of drums and percussion sounds.
Always front and center, though, is Berkeley's voice and lyric, supported on five of the ten tracks by the silver throated Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. Each song is a story in itself, a layered landscape of sounds and textures.
The NY Times says, "Berkeley sings in a lustrous melancholy voice with shades of Tim Buckley and Nick Drake" and he's been called "Sensational" by the Philadelphia Inquirer. David and various versions of his studio band are currently on tour through the end of the year with a stop at NPR's Mountain Stage on October 11.
The central musicians on Cardboard Boat include guitarist Bill Titus (Dan Bern, Brother Ali), trumpet and banjo player Jordan Katz (De La Soul, The Indigo Girls), bassist/keyboard player Will Robertson (Shawn Mullins) and drummer Mathias Kunzli (Regina Spektor).
David Berkeley Tour Dates:
Sept 25 - Spring Lake, MI - Pin Drop Concert Series
Sept 26 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's Music Hall
Oct 01 - Falls Church, VA - Falls Church Episcopal Church
Oct 03 - New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2
Oct 04 - Philadelphia, PA - Tin Angel
Oct 05 - South Orange, NJ - South Orange Public Library
Oct 07 - Brattleboro, VT - Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center
Oct 08 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim
Oct 10 - Harrisburg, PA - Midtown Scholar (reading and performance)
Oct 11 - Charleston, WV - Culture Center Theater (Mountain Stage)
Oct 22 - Wimberley, TX - Blue Rock Live
Oct 23 - Houston, TX - Natachee's
Oct 24 - Longview, TX - Longview Museum of Fine Arts
Nov 05 - Los Angeles, CA - The Last Book Store
Nov 06 - Seattle, WA - Fremont Abbey Arts
Nov 07 - Portland, OR - Abbie Weisenbloom Music Series
Nov 09 - Arcata, CA - TBA
Nov 10 - Berkeley, CA - Freight & Salvage
Nov 11 - Austin, TX - Rock Room
Nov 12 - Austin, TX - Open Ears
Nov 13 - Fischer, TX - Fischer Fest
Nov 21 - Amarillo, TX - High Plains Public Radio Concert Series
Nov 22 - Lubbock, TX - Rockin' Box 33
Dec 03 - Nashville, TN - TBA
Dec 04 - Memphis, TN - TBA
Dec 05 - Decatur, GA - Eddie's Attic
Dec 06 - Birmingham, AL - Moonlight on the Mountain
