made $23,000 a year; by 2001, he earned $45,000 from his music. That year saw the release of the Silver Jews album Bright Flight, which featured his wife Cassie Berman. Their relationship started two years earlier at a party; Berman awoke in Cassie's house and learned she owned every Silver Jews album. "I was really depressed and had nothing to lose at that time. I was so ugly". Cassie was a source of relief for Berman and she helped him feel young, Berman later considering their relationship the "best thing that ever happened to me". They lived together in Nashville for 19 years, where they moved to aid Berman's music career; later buying a house there alleviated quandaries for Berman; it was a relief to Berman to live in a city where he felt pursuing a career in music was well accepted. Berman began to take hard drugs in 1998, during a period of depression. He began to take heroin, methamphetamine and crack cocaine, with his use of the latter reaching the point of addiction; he sought existential insight from drugs but eventually his dependency led to reculsion and dejection. Several of Berman's friends died in the years that followed, including Robert Bingham, the founder and editor of Open City, who died in 1999 after a heroin overdose. Berman twice unintentionally overdosed; one incident followed the release party for Bright Flight. That album's darker sound reflected his struggles with substance abuse. Attempted suicide, rehabilitation and career progression: 2003–2008 On November 19, 2003, Berman attempted suicide in Nashville by consuming crack cocaine, alcohol and tranquilizers. He wrote a short note to Cassie—the brevity of which Berman would later regret—put on his wedding suit, and went to a "crack house" he frequented. When discovered by Cassie, he verbally lashed out and refused treatment. He was eventually taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, awakening three days later. Around a year later, Berman checked in for drug rehabilitation, which was paid for by his father, and encouraged by his mother and Cassie. Berman said he had relapsed but that by August 2005 he was not using drugs. During his rehabilitation, Berman embraced Judaism, choosing to study the Torah and sought to be a "better person" who was "easier" to Cassie and staff at Drag City; he would soon consider Judaism as an integral aspect of his life, which he intended to continuously labor over.