Bio
Son of classical musicians and formally trained as a violinist, David was first signed (by the legendary Mary Martin), at sixteen, to Warner Bros. Records as a member of "Quacky Duck And His Barnyard Friends", along with founding members Dan and Daegal Bennett, sons of singer Tony Bennett.
At age 18, David joined Bob Dylan's band for four years, starting with the "Rolling Thunder Revue". He recorded three albums with Dylan and appears on numerous compilations and live albums, including "Biograph" and "Bob Dylan Live 1975 The Bootleg Series Vol. 5". David appeared in the NBC special "Hard Rain", and the feature film "Renaldo and Clara".
In 1976 David was signed to Arista and released three albums (two of which he co-produced with T-Bone Burnett and Steven Soles) as a member of the critically acclaimed "Alpha Band". He later went on to work with Burnett on his solo albums and other projects, including writing the score for the feature film "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood".
David is an award-winning film and television composer with many major credits. His score for the A&E mini-series "Broken Trail", co-written with Van Dyke Parks, was nominated for an Emmy. David's first film score was for the notorious epic
Gate". It led to a four-film collaboration with director
Cimino, which resulted in a Golden Globe nomination for his score for the Oliver Stone-penned
Dragon".
Other long-standing relationships are with the esteemed Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein, and with Maggie Greenwald ("Ballad of Little Jo", "Songcatcher"). His score for Ripstein's "Deep Crimson (Profundo Carmesi)" won David the Golden Ocelot at the Venice film festival (Best Musical Score); this honor was repeated at the Havana Film Festival. His work with Greenwald is also highly acclaimed; on her film "Songcatcher" (a music-centric film about song collecting in the Appalachain Mountains), David not only wrote the score, but researched and supervised all of the traditional ballad singing and folk music in the film.
David has written scores in a multitude of styles for many other film directors as well, including Harold Ramis, Walter Hill, Thomas Schlamme, Frank Pierson, Robert Duvall, and Gavin O'Connor. Some of the many television directors David has worked with include Glenn Jordan, Jeff Bleckner, Tim Hunter, and Robert Allan Ackerman.
David produced the soundtrack albums for the films "Heaven's Gate", "Year of the Dragon", "The Sicilian", "Desperate Hours", "Ballad Of Little Jo", and "Broken Trail", among others. Excerpts from his scores for "Heaven's Gate" and "The Sicilian" have been performed at the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall, respectively.
David continues to be a world-class recording and performing musician. A founding member of "Bruce Hornsby and the Range", David was awarded an RIAA platinum album and a Grammy Award for "The Way It Is", as well as as RIAA gold albums for Bob Dylan's "Desire" and "Hard Rain". He performs and records with a wide range of artists, playing a variety of instruments including electric/acoustic/classical/slide guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mandocello, Irish bouzouki, pedal steel guitar, lap steel, banjo and Dobro/National resonator guitars.
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ARTISTS
Below is a list of artists I've had the pleasure to work with over the years, either live or in the studio.
Click here for my page on the ALL-MUSIC GUIDE
Last updated June 2017
Alpha Band
Sam Amidon
David Amram
Eric Andersen
Laurie Anderson
Murray Attaway
Hughes AuFray
Aztec Two-Step
Joan Baez
Corinne Bailey Rae
Lou Ann Barton
Vince Bell
Bob Bennett
Matraca Berg
Mira Bilotte
Ronee Blakely
Peter Blegvad
Luka Bloom
Blue Aeroplanes
Debby Boone
Paulo Branganca
Bonnie Bramlett
Delaney Bramlett
Edie Brickell
Greg Brown
Pieta Brown
T. Graham Brown
Jackson Browne
Addie Brownlee
Stephen Bruton
Lindsay Buckingham
Norton Buffalo
Sandy Bull
Cindy Bullens
Vashti Bunyan
T-Bone Burnett
Billy Burnette
Dorsey Burnette
The Burns Sisters
David Byrne
John Cale
Calexico
Glen Campbell
Laura Cantrell
Neal Casal
Neko Case
Peter Case
Johnny Cash
June Carter Cash
Rosanne Cash
Cashman and West
The Chambers Brothers
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
Don Cherry
Vic Chesnutt
Gary Clarke, Jr.
Jimmy Cliff
Bruce Cockburn
Marc Cohn
Judy Collins
Chi Coltrane
Shawn Colvin
Ry Cooder
Elvis Costello
The Courage Brothers
Christina Courtin
Susan Cowsill
Marshall Crenshaw
Jason Crigler
Jim Croce
Andrae Crouch
Rick Danko
Iris DeMent
Demolition String Band
Anna Deveare-Smith
John Denver
John Doe
Doro
Bob Dylan
Jakob Dylan
Steve Earle
Stoney Edwards
Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Joe Ely
Alejandro Escovedo
Tabitha Fair
Marianne Faithful
Billy Falcon
Brian Ferry
Anton Fig
Bela Fleck
Rosie Flores
Michael Fracasso
Kinky Friedman
The Fugs
Ritchie Furay
Peter Gallway
Jerry Garcia
Howe Gelb
Giant Sand
Allen Ginsberg
Chuck Girard
Baby Gramps
Nancy Griffith
Glen Hansard
Chris Harford
Emmylou Harris
Jody Harris
Ronnie Hawkins
Robin Holcomb
Peter Holsapple
Mark Heard
Antony Hegarty (Antony & The Johnsons)
Levon Helm
Don Henley
Joe Henry
Chris Hillman
Robin Holcomb
Deborah Holland (Animal Logic)
Jolie Holland (Be Good Tanyas)
Peter Holsapple
Jesca Hoop
Bruce Hornsby
Toninho Horta
Garth Hudson
Michael Hurley
Kate Jacobs
Mason Jennings
Freedy Johnston
Jude Johnstone
Norah Jones
Tom Jones
Tonio K.
Lenny Kaye
Katell Keineg
Keren Ann
Will Kimbrough
Elle King
Osamu Kitajima
Al Kooper
Mary Lee Kortes
Chris Kowanko
Jimmy LaFave
Mark Lanegan
Jim Lauderdale
Hugh Laurie
Bernie Leadon
Amos Lee
Ben Lee
Huey Lewis
Colin Linden
David Lindley
Jackie Lomax
Lonesome Val
Los Lobos
Lulu Moon
Evan Lurie
Phil Madeira
Madrugada
Melissa Manchester
J. Mascis
Rob Mathes
Ian Matthews
Cormac McCarthy
The McCrary Sisters
Bobby McFerrin
The McGarrigle Sisters
Roger McGuinn
Maria McKee
Meatloaf
John Mellencamp
Tift Merritt
Buddy Miller
Rhett Miller (Old 97s)
Joni Mitchell
Rebecca Moore
Allison Moorer
Cindy Morgan
Rob Morsberger
Geoff Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Jenni Muldaur
Marcus Mumford
My Morning Jacket
Willie Nelson
Michael Nesmith
Bob Neuwirth
Debi Nova
O.P.M.
Aoife O'Donovan (Crooked Still)
Ollabelle
Beth Orton
Van Dyke Parks
Herb Pedersen
Dave Perkins
Bernadette Peters
Sam Phillips
David Poe
Iggy Pop
Quacky Duck
Radford (Johnny Mead)
Bonnie Raitt
Bo Ramsey
Lee Ranaldo
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John)
Lou Reed
Marc Ribot
Johnny Rivers
Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies)
Robbie Robertson
Lucy Roche
Suzzy Roche
The Roches
Carrie Rodriquez
Mick Ronson
Jim Rooney
Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish)
Catherine Russell
Tom Russell
Michael Sackler-Berner
Katey Sagal
Doug Sahm
Kevin Salem
Dave Schram
Charlie Sexton
Jules Shear
Duncan Sheik
Silverchair
Darden Smith
Patti Smith
Jo-el Sonnier
Esperanza Spaulding
Ringo Starr
Cat Stevens
Curtis Stigers
Sting
George Strait
Syd Straw
Andrew Strong (The Commitments)
Amy Stroup
Marty Stuart
Billy Swan
Spinal Tap
Taj Mahal
Chip Taylor
Louise Taylor
Teitur
Chris Thiele
Dave Thomas (Pere Ubu)
Irma Thomas
Kamilla Thompson
Linda Thompson
Richard Thompson
Teddy Thompson
Johnny Tillotson
Justin Timberlake
Liz Tormes
Tanya Tucker
Jeff Tweedy
Little Steven Van Zandt
Suzanne Vega
Vitamin C (Coleen Fitzpatrick)
Loudon Wainwright III
Martha Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Sloan Wainwright
Jennifer Warnes
Roger Waters
The Williams Brothers
Dar Williams
Victoria Williams
Lucinda Williams
The Winans
The Wood Brothers
Yo La Tengo
Dwight Yoakum
