David Bromberg

David Bromberg (born September 19, 1945) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter.<ref name="Deming/AM"></ref> An eclectic artist, Bromberg plays bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock and roll. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics, and the ability to play rhythm and lead guitar at the same time.
Bromberg has played with many famous musicians, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Jorma Kaukonen, Jerry Garcia, Rusty Evans (The Deep) and Bob Dylan. He co-wrote the song "The Holdup" with George Harrison, who played on Bromberg's self-titled 1972 album.
In 2008, he was nominated for a Grammy Award. Bromberg is known for his fingerpicking style that he learned from Reverend Gary Davis.
Musical career.
Bromberg was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia and raised in Tarrytown, New York. He attended Columbia College of Columbia University in the 1960s, studying guitar with Reverend Gary Davis during that period. He soon established himself as a solo performer and accompanist on the mid-1960s Greenwich Village folk circuit.
Proficient on fiddle, many styles of acoustic and electric guitar, pedal steel guitar and dobro, Bromberg gained a reputation through his session work for artists such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Bob Dylan. He contributed to the latter's 1970 albums "Self Portrait" and "New Morning", and was one of Dylan's preferred musicians. That same year, he backed folk singer Rosalie Sorrels at the Isle of Wight Festival and then performed an impromptu solo set. The success of this appearance led to him being offered a recording contract with Columbia Records.
Bromberg's self-titled debut album, released in early 1972, included his composition "Sammy's Song", featuring Dylan on harmonica, and "The Holdup", co-written with George Harrison.<ref name="Ruhlmann/AM"></ref> Issued as a single, "The Holdup" was a popular choice on U.S. radio; according to a 1998 review in the American roots music magazine "No Depression", the song became "perhaps [Bromberg's] best known work". The collaboration also influenced Harrison's development as a slide guitarist, as Bromberg introduced the former Beatle to the dobro.
His seven-minute rendition of "Mr. Bojangles" from 1972's "Demon in Disguise", interspersed with tales about traveling with the song's author, Jerry Jeff Walker, earned Bromberg progressive rock radio airplay. In 1973, he played mandolin, dobro, and electric guitar on Jonathan Edwards' album "Have a Good Time for Me".
Bromberg released "Try Me One More Time" in 2007, his first studio recording since 1990. It included Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" and Elizabeth Cotten's "Shake Sugaree". The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Folk Album at the 50th annual Grammy Awards in 2008. His 2011 album "Use Me" features guest appearances by Levon Helm, John Hiatt, Tim O'Brien, Dr. John, Keb' Mo', Los Lobos, Widespread Panic, Linda Ronstadt, and Vince Gill.
Bromberg currently lives in Wilmington, Delaware, where he and his wife, artist Nancy Josephson, own an extensive violin sales and repair shop, which receives a partial subsidy from the City of Wilmington, Delaware. He occasionally performs at Wilmington's Grand Opera House, where he and his wife are major donors. For six years, ending in May 2017, he sometimes performed at the new World Cafe Live Wilmington, in "The Queen" theater.
Discography.
As a solo artist or band leader.
LPs and CDs:
DVDs:
MP3s:
With other artists.
David Bromberg has contributed musically to many albums by other musicians and bands. This is a partial list of those recordings.