Watch surviving members of Silver Jews reunite with Will Oldham on vocals at Nashville show

14 August, 2024

Cassie Berman of Silver Jews and Will Oldham. Credit: Edd Westmacott and Roland Popp via GETTY

The surviving members of Silver Jews reunited with Will Oldham on vocal duty for a semi-impromptu gig in Nashville this past weekend.

Taking place on the porch of the Julia Martin Gallery in Nashville, TN on Saturday night (August 10), the show was done to honour the fifth anniversary of the death of the band’s frontman David Berman.

Led by Berman’s widow Cassie Berman, the night saw the likes of the remaining band members – comprised of William Tyler, Peyton Pinkerton, Brian Kotzu, and Tony Crow – as well as Tyler’s former Lambchop bandmate Matt Swanson and Will Oldham – aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy – perform a full Silver Jews set.

Cassie and Oldham shared lead vocal duties on ‘Punks in the Beerlight’ and ‘The Wild Kindness’. They also performed a cover of ‘All My Happiness Is Gone’ by Purple Mountains, the band Berman started prior to his death after a decade out of the public eye.

David passed at the age of 52 back in 2019. The singer and poet behind Silver Jews was found dead in an apartment building in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbourhood. His death was ruled as a suicide. 

The frontman had suffered from depression and drug addiction while in the band. He rarely gave interviews, and only began touring in earnest around Silver Jews’ acclaimed 2005 album ‘Tanglewood Numbers’.

His band Purple Mountains had released their self-titled debut album a month prior to his passing. It was his first new music since the final Silver Jews album ‘Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea’, which was released in 2008.

Back in 2022, Stephen Malkmus performed a cover of Silver Jews’ ‘Blue Arrangements’ at a gig in Portland. Malkmus was previously a member of the band in 1989. That same year, Animal Collective also covered the band’s 1994 ‘Starlite Walker’ cut ‘Trains Across The Sea’ while performing at Sirius XM.

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