David Bromberg (born September 19, 1945) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter.
[ David Bromberg biographyat Billboard.com] An eclectic artist, Bromberg plays
bluegrass rock,
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...
,
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
,
jazz rock
Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, a ...
,
country rock
Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...
, and
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics, and the ability to play rhythm and lead guitar at the same time.
Bromberg has played and recorded with many famous musicians, including
Richie Havens
Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk music, folk, soul music, soul (both of which he frequently cover song, covered), and rhythm and b ...
,
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...
,
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,
Jorma Kaukonen,
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...
, Rusty Evans (
The Deep) and
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
. He co-wrote the song "The Holdup" with
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
, who played on Bromberg's
self-titled 1972 album. In 2008, he was nominated for a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
.
["2008 Grammy Nominations Announced"]
''Great American Country
Great American Family is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming such as television series and Television film, made-for-TV movies—some of whi ...
'' Bromberg is known for his
fingerpicking style that he learned from
Reverend Gary Davis.
Musical career

Bromberg was born to a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and raised in
Tarrytown
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on th ...
, New York.
[David Bromberg and Jorma Kaukonen at Tarrytown Music Hall, January 22, 2010]
at zvents.com He is the grandson of labor leader and politician
Baruch Charney Vladeck. He attended
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest Undergraduate education#United States system, undergraduate college of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the ...
in the 1960s, studying guitar with
Reverend Gary Davis during that time.
He soon established himself as a solo performer and accompanist on the mid-1960s
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
folk circuit.
Proficient on
fiddle
A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
, many styles of
acoustic and electric guitar,
pedal steel guitar and
dobro
Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar.
The Dobro was originally a gui ...
, Bromberg gained a reputation through his session work for artists such as
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...
and
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
. He contributed to the latter's 1970 albums ''
Self Portrait
Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...
'' 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
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
Th ...
and then performed an impromptu solo set. The success of this appearance led to his being offered a recording contract with
.
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
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
.
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
romberg'sbest known work".
The collaboration also influenced Harrison's development as a
slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
ist, 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
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Hel ...
, John Hiatt, Tim O'Brien, Dr. John, Keb' Mo'
Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician. He is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that tra ...
, Los Lobos
Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") is a Mexican American rock group, rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional ...
, Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...
, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
, and Vince Gill
Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...
.
Bromberg lives in Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
with his wife, artist Nancy Josephson. For some years they owned an extensive violin sales and repair shop, David Bromberg Fine Violins.[Baker, James M. (retrieved January 5, 2008]
Mayor Baker Says Renown Musician And Collector David Bromberg And His Wife, Sculptor Nancy Josephson, Will Call Wilmington 'Home'
/ref> They sold the shop at the end of 2021. Bromberg 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.
In 2023 Bromberg said that, while he still might play occasional live shows, he would no longer tour with his Big Band. On June 10, 2023, David Bromberg and His Big Band played a farewell concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Discography
As a solo artist or band leader
LPs and CDs:
*'' David Bromberg'' (1972)
*'' Demon in Disguise'' (1972)
*'' Wanted Dead or Alive'' (1974)
*'' Midnight on the Water'' (1975)
*'' How Late'll Ya Play 'Til?'' (1976)
*'' Reckless Abandon'' (1977)
*'' Out of the Blues: The Best of David Bromberg'' (1977)
*''Bandit in a Bathing Suit'' (1978)
*''My Own House'' (1978)
*''You Should See the Rest of the Band'' (1980)
*''Long Way from Here'' (1986)
*'' Sideman Serenade'' (1989)
*''The Player: A Retrospective'' (1998)
*'' Try Me One More Time'' (2007)
*'' Live: New York City 1982'' (2008)
*'' Use Me'' (2011)
*'' Only Slightly Mad'' (2013)
*'' The Blues, the Whole Blues, and Nothing But the Blues'' (2016)
*'' Big Road'' (2020)
DVDs:
*''The Guitar Artistry of David Bromberg: Demon in Disguise'' (2008)
*''A Guitar Lesson with David Bromberg'' (2009)
*''David Bromberg and His Big Band In Concert at the Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ.'' (2009)
MP3s:
*''The David Bromberg Quartet at MerleFest, April 29, 2006'' (2006)
*''David Bromberg & Angel Band at Philadelphia Folk Festival, August 16, 2007'' (2007)
*''The David Bromberg Quartet at MerleFest, April 25, 2009'' (2009)
----
With other artists
David Bromberg has contributed musically to many albums by other musicians and bands. This is a partial list of those recordings.[David Bromberg discography]
at Wirz.de
*'' Psychedelic Moods'' – The Deep (1966)
*'' Psychedelic Psoul'' – The Freak Scene (1967)
*''Mr. Bojangles'' – Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...
(1968)
*''Driftin' Way of Life'' – Jerry Jeff Walker (1969)
*''Sanders' Truck Stop'' – Ed Sanders (1969)
*''Things I Notice Now'' – Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. (1969)
*'' Easy Does It'' – Al Kooper
Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...
(1970)
*''Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
'' – Richie Havens
Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk music, folk, soul music, soul (both of which he frequently cover song, covered), and rhythm and b ...
(1970)
*''Tom Paxton 6'' – Tom Paxton (1970)
*''Tom Rush
Tom Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose success helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and who has continued his own singing career for 60 years.
Life ...
'' – Tom Rush
Tom Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose success helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and who has continued his own singing career for 60 years.
Life ...
(1970)
*'' Woodsmoke and Oranges'' – Paul Siebel (1970)
*'' Wrong End of the Rainbow'' – Tom Rush (1970)
*''Self Portrait
Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...
'' – Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
(1970)
*'' New Morning'' – Bob Dylan (1970)
*'' Jack-Knife Gypsy'' – Paul Siebel (1970)
*''Buzzy Linhart Is Music'' – Buzzy Linhart (1971)
*''Sha Na Na'' – Sha Na Na (1971)
*''Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...
'' – Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...
(1971)
*'' Blue River'' – Eric Andersen (1972)
*'' Diamonds in the Rough'' – John Prine (1972)
*''Dobro'' – Mike Auldridge (1972)
*''Jerry Jeff Walker'' – Jerry Jeff Walker (1972)
*'' Old Dan's Records'' – Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...
(1972)
*'' Subway Night'' – David Amram (1972)
*'' Be What You Want To'' – Link Wray
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 Instrumental rock, instrumental single "Rumble (instrumental), Rumble", reached the ...
(1973)
*'' All American Boy'' – Rick Derringer (1973)
*''Breezy Stories'' – Danny O'Keefe (1973)
*''Garland Jeffreys'' – Garland Jeffreys (1973)
*'' Shotgun Willie'' – Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
(1973)
*'' Have a Good Time for Me'' – Jonathan Edwards (1973)
*''Somebody Else's Troubles'' – Steve Goodman
Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song " City of New Orleans", which was recorded by artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, The ...
(1973)
*''That's Enough for Me'' – Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025) was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk music, folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. Yarrow co-wrote (with Lenny Lipton ...
(1973)
*'' Full Moon'' – Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...
and Rita Coolidge (1973)
*''Texas Tornado'' – Doug Sahm
Douglas Wayne Sahm (November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from San Antonio, Texas. He is regarded as a key Tejano music, Tex-Mex music and Music of Texas, Texan Music pe ...
(1973)
*'' Ringo'' – Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
(1973)
*''Blues and Bluegrass'' – Mike Auldridge (1974)
*''Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals on Paul Simo ...
'' – Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals on Paul Simo ...
(1974)
*'' Shankar Family & Friends'' – Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...
(1974)
*''Johnny Shines & Co., Vol. 2'' – Johnny Shines (1974)
*'' One of These Nights'' – The Eagles
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in ...
(1975)
*''Hillbilly Jazz'' – Vassar Clements (1975)
*'' Tales from the Ozone'' – Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were an American country rock band founded in 1967. The group's leader and co-founder was pianist and vocalist George Frayne IV, alias Commander Cody (born July 19, 1944, in Boise, Idaho; died September ...
(1975)
*'' It Looks Like Snow'' – Phoebe Snow (1976)
*''Took a Long Time'' – Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...
(1977)
*''Goodbye Blues'' – Country Joe McDonald
Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who was the lead vocalist of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti ...
(1977)
*'' Ringo the 4th'' – Ringo Starr (1977)
*''Live at McCabes'' – Paul Siebel (1978)
*''Even a Gray Day'' – Tom Paxton (1983)
*''Red to Blue'' – Leon Redbone (1985)
*'' I've Got a Rock in My Sock'' – Rory Block (1986)
*''Best Blues and Originals'' – Rory Block (1987)
*''Jim Post & Friends'' – Jim Post (1987)
*'' John Prine Live'' – John Prine (1988)
*''Murder of Crows'' – Joe Henry (1989)
*''Mr. Cover Shaker'' – Johnny Shines (1992)
*'' Picture Perfect Morning'' – Edie Brickell (1993)
*''Catfish for Supper'' – Jon Sholle (1996)
*''Relax Your Mind'' – Jay Ungar (2003)
*''My Last Go Round'' – Rosalie Sorrels (2004)
*'' The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006'' – Bob Dylan (2008)
*''King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers'' – King Wilkie (2009)
*''Bless My Sole'' – Angel Band (2010)
*''All My Friends Are Here'' – Arif Mardin (2010)
*''First Came Memphis Minnie'' – various artists (2012)
*'' Love for Levon: A Benefit to Save the Barn'' – various artists (2013)
*'' The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait'' – Bob Dylan (2013)
*''Live at Caffè Lena: Music From America's Legendary Coffeehouse'' (1967–2013) – various artists (2013)
References
Other sources
*
External links
David Bromberg Fine Violins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bromberg, David
1945 births
Living people
American country singer-songwriters
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
American slide guitarists
American folk musicians
Jewish American musicians
Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania
Jewish folk singers
Guitarists from Philadelphia
20th-century American guitarists
Country musicians from Pennsylvania
20th-century American male musicians
Columbia College (New York) alumni
21st-century American Jews
American male singer-songwriters