Richard Berman legendary figure in American Folk Music


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Richard Berman

"This man has the gift." So said the late Utah Phillips, legendary figure in American folk music, after hearing Richard Berman sing at the Kerrville Folk Festival's Ballad Tree in 1992. And Richard has used that gift to write many songs that tell moving, true stories. "Gil's Song", the song that prompted Utah Phillip's appraisal, is the tale of a Wyoming sheepherder's one brief attempt at closeness and its consequences. Humor, too, is part of Richard's performance, as in "Monopoly", his first-person account of the power of that game on behavior, and "The Kids Are Back", his take on the latest stage in family development, both songs from Richard's second CD, Love Work and Play. His third CD, Dreamer, included his first songs of requited love, "A Love Song" and "Here And Now" and the haunting "The Fortune Told". Both Love, Work and Play and Dreamer were chosen "One of the Best Folk Albums" of 1996 and 1998, respectively, by Rich Warren, host of "The Midnight Special" on WFMT in Chicago, the longest continuously running folk radio show in the country. Richard's 4th CD, Storied Lives, won the 2001 Just Plain Folks Award for "Best Traditional Folk" CD. It includes the memorable, ironic story song "On the Mexican Coast", a song featured on the compilation disks Artists for Change and Songs for a Better Planet, Volume II.  2005 saw the release of Holding Hands which was chosen one the "Top Ten Albums" of the year by Maggie Ferguson of WXOU and one of the eleven "Essential CDs" of 2005 by Bill Hahn of WFDU. 

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Richard left the city to go to college in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has lived most of his adult life in Amherst, Massachusetts with his wife and two children. Richard received an MSW and worked as a therapist for years with children and families. He has also taught as a classroom teacher in the Amherst public schools. Drawing on his experiences as a husband, therapist, teacher, father and son, he has written songs that impart his understandings of people and their situations in direct and compelling ways.

Richard BermanRichard first received national recognition in folk circles for his work by winning the 1992 Napa Valley Folk Festival's Emerging Songwriters Contest. He went on to win the 1995 South Florida Folk Festival's songwriting contest, was selected to showcase at the 1997 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and was chosen to do so again in 2001. In 1999 Richard won the Sierra Songwriters Festival's songwriting contest. In 2000 he was a finalist at The Wildflower Festival's songwriting contest, the winner of the Rose Garden Coffeehouse Songwriting Contest and was a finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk songwriting contest, a selection that was repeated in 2001. In 2003 he won the Susquehanna Music and Arts Festival's songwriting contest. Over the past dozen years Richard has performed in coffeehouses, clubs, festivals and house concerts in the Northeast, the Southwest, and California, and has toured England and Wales. Among the clubs he has played at is the Bluebird Café in Nashville, TN, where he was selected to showcase in 1994 and came back to play again in 1996, 1998, 2001,2005, 2007 and 2009.



"Richard Berman is one of the most gifted songwriters I have ever met. With a wry sense of humor, and topics most writers don't dare approach, he weaves through musical genres with a master's touch. Richard's songs defy labels like folk or pop-- they are simply songs you must hear for yourself."   Tom Prasada-Rao

Now And Then - $13.95  
plus $2 shipping and handling
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Richard Berman - Now and Then
  1. There Is No Gold"click to hear
  2. There Is No Gold (mp3)"click to hear
  3. You, Me and Bobbie McGee
  4. Anna
  5. Momma Earth
  6. Go to England
  7. Molly
  8. Come Tomorrow
  9. Mister Guitar Player
  10. Blessings
    The Prodigal Son Trilogy
  11. The Son Who Stayed Behind
  12. The Prodigal Sonclick to hear
  13. The Father's Story

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Currently Available
 


Holding Hands - $13.95  
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What DJ's are saying about Holding Hands...

Richard Berman - Holding Hands
  1. The Gifts
  2. The Wild West
  3. The Wedding Danceclick to hear
  4. That Old Song "Turn, Turn, Turn"
  5. Seated On This Park Bench
  6. We're Not Strangers
  7. If You Practice Hard Enough
  8. What's The Hurry?
  9. My Soul Is Rested
  10. Three Men Died And Went To Heaven
  11. People Holding Handsclick to hear
  12. Lying In This Bed

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Storied Lives - $13.95  
plus $2 shipping and handling
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Richard Berman - Storied Lives

"Never splashy or outrageous, Berman is the perfect fit for those quiet nights of contemplation. If you aren't thinking about anything in particular as you slip his music into your CD player, you certainly will be doing so afterwards."
   --Kevin McCarthy, Kevin's Celtic and Folk Music CD Reviews. Read the complete review

  1. Broken Wingsclick to hear
  2. On the Mexican Coastclick to hear
  3. Oedipus
  4. The Cowboy's Tale
  5. Alamogordo
  6. Sweeter Than Playing Alone
  7. Odessa
  8. Sarah
  9. Let Him Know Your Heart
  10. Arthur, Arthur, Arthur
  11. How Old Is Your Boy?
  12. Song to My Father

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Dreamer - $13.95  
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Richard Berman - Dreamer

"Berman is the greatest discovery of the year. Every song here is a gem. These are haunted and haunting songs. You will be singing them after two listenings."
    --Moshe Benarroch
    Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange, October, 1999.

"With an easily recognizable voice, Berman has continued his musical growth on this CD. He employs excellent and appropriate musical touches with his songs and his lyrical insights have continued to flower with each release. It's interesting to a listener because, due to his presentation, even his most jolting tunes have an air of subtlety."
   --Kevin McCarthy, Kevin's Celtic and Folk Music CD Reviews. Read the complete review

  1. A Love Song click to hear
  2. The Fortune Told
  3. Give More Than You Take click to hear
  4. Marco
  5. Brooklyn, Summer, 1966
  6. Divorce
  7. Dinah
  8. Jacob Weintraub
  9. My Father's Mansion
  10. The Bridge click to hear
  11. Here and Now

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Love, Work and Play - $13.95  
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Richard Berman - Love, Work and Play The idea of doing a produced album with varied instruments was not an idea I came to embrace easily. The purist in me wanted to make my second collection of songs along the lines of my first, which was basically a live album done in a studio with just my voice and guitar. But I wanted this second album to reach a larger audience, and at some level, I felt the songs would have more appeal if they had a richer musical setting.
...Richard
  1. The Train's Leaving the Stationclick to hear
  2. She Was Waiting for a Man
  3. Monopolyclick to hear
  4. Fire Out In Oakland
  5. Falcon
  6. Three Thousand Miles Away
  7. By Your Side
  8. A Penny For Your Thoughts
  9. The Kids Are Back
  10. Whatever Happened to That Boy?
  11. Wild Horse on a Tether
  12. The Fool in Me
  13. Song of Joseph's Brother

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Bittersweet - $13.95
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Richard Berman - Bittersweet "Richard Berman is a gem. His thoughtful, poetic songs reflect from depths few writers can attain."
...Tom Kimmel
  1. Flowers In The Desertclick to hear
  2. Gil's Songclick to hear
  3. I Don't Play Piano Well
  4. The Big Store
  5. Let's Make Hay
  6. A Million Miles From You
  7. My Father's Mansion
  8. Call This Toll-Free #
  9. The Kids Are Gone
  10. A Fathers Lullabye

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For More Information, Contact:
Richard Berman
555 Bay Road
Amherst, MA    01002
(413) 253-7570
E-mail: rlberman@amherst.edu


For all inquires regarding Richard in Ireland/UK, please contact:
Michael Grimes
(tel) 00353 01 8413100
E-mail: creativeideas@eircom.net


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