daniel johnston ‘story of an artist’
from his 1982 home recorded self released cassette album ‘don’t be scared’
daniel & his music gathered some notoriety when he moved to austin, tx and gained a following by enthusiatically handing out his homemade cassette albums to almost anyone he met.
interest in johnston increased when kurt cobain was pictured wearing a t-shirt featuring the cover image of johnston’s ‘hi, how are you’ album. despite being detained in a mental hospital at this time, a bidding war ensued, resulting in his first ‘proper’ album ‘fun’ being released in 1994.
since then, his career has sadly been hampered by frequent relapses into mental illness and also by the nasty side effects of psychotropic medication. however, his songs continue to grow in popularity, particularly among those with a slight leaning toward what might be called ‘outsider art’.
because of his severe & enduring illness, he will inevitably be seen as an outsider. maybe he likes it that way. maybe not.
i hope i’m not being unkind by describing his output as ‘patchy’. because when he gets it right, as he does with this song, he really gets it right.
