There's breakup records. There's apocalypse records. Then there's the Purple Mountains  record! This new musical expression from David Berman is his most to-the-bone yet, very frankly confessing to a near-total collapse from the word go, before delving into the sorry subtext with twin lasers of personal laceration and the saving grace of a professional songwriter's natural remove. Our unofficial Gen X poet laureate has written a collection of songs that cries to be understood in the misbegotten country that made everything great about Purple Mountains to begin with. Clearly, America's fate is that of its treasured freedom icons: the cowboy, the outlaw, the card sharp and the riverboat gambler all face sheer resignation in the end. There are no perfect crimes. Berman's poet-thief of so many precious moments, now stripped and chastened, recalls his latest lowest moments in perfect detail, hovering ghostly above a tumescent production design with tragic majesty, evoking the defeated-king era of late Elvis, southern-fried and sassy STILL on his countrypolitan way down, and somehow still solid-gold (no, silver!) even at rock's bottom.

The second single conjures [the prelude to] a cathartic night on the town, bathed in magic glow : this is how the light of David Berman's life leaves him behind, enmeshed in desolation and regret. Purple Mountains approach existential perfection with a somehow joyful lament in "Darkness and Cold" as plaintive harp and backing vox cast long shadows over a dancey rhythm n roots shuffle.  Watch (above) and listen to the fervent new single from none other than your new favorite band, Purple Mountains.

TOUR DATES:

8/10/19 Huichica East Pine Plains NY
8/11/19 White Eagle Hall Jersey City NJ
8/12/19 World Cafe Live Philadelphia PA
8/14/19 Black Cat Washington DC
8/15/19 The Grey Eagle Asheville NC
8/16/19 Pilot Light Knoxville TN
8/17/19 Mercy Lounge Nashville TN
8/19/19 Zanzabar Louisville KY
8/20/19 Duck Room at Blueberry Hill St. Louis MO
8/21/19 The Mill Iowa City IA
8/23/19 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis MN
8/24/19- 8/25/19 Sleeping Village Chicago IL
8/27/19 Lee's Palace Toronto Ontario Canada
8/28/19 La Sala Rossa Montreal Quebec Canada
8/30/19 The Sinclair Cambridge MA
8/31/19 Murmrr Theatre Brooklyn NY
9/6/19 Hopscotch Festival Raleigh NC
9/13/19 Neptune Theatre Seattle WA
9/14/19 Huichica Walla Walla Walla Walla WA
9/15/19 Wonder Ballroom Portland OR
9/18/19 The Chapel San Francisco CA
9/22/19 The Lodge Room Los Angeles CA