A couple of months ago I was introduced to a unique musician named Daniel Johnston. While living in his parents basement he wrote and recorded several audio cassettes worth of music, including Songs of Pain (1981) and More Songs of Pain (1983). The songs were raw, poorly recorded and featured only Daniel and a cheap electronic keyboard, but their stark honesty and artistic innocence attracted the attention of many people in the underground music scene. Popular bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Sonic Youth looked up to his music and considered him a modern day pop genius & original talent, akin to blues-man Robert Johnson and country legend Hank Williams.

A few weeks ago a documentary film about Daniel called The Devil and Daniel Johnston was released to independent theatres. I had the pleasure of watching the film and it was one of the most tragic, interesting, and hilarious artist profiles I have seen; a definite must see for anyone with an interest in music & art.  Also look out for a new collection of Daniel’s ‘greatest hits’ called Welcome to My World, which features tracks from rare and out of print releases.  It’s a perfect introduction to his beautiful and unique music.

 MP3:  Daniel Johnston – Grievances