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DANIEL JOHNSTON
Alive In New York City 8/10 + Daniel Johnston In The 20th Century (scores in panel, right) SHIMMY-DISC
By Louis Pattison
Soul-baring songs: Daniel Johnston composing at home
JMCCONNICO/PRESS
The cult outsider’s ’80s/’90s catalogue revived.
DANIEL JOHNSTON was often described as an outsider musician, but was there ever an outsider who left such an imprint on popular culture at large? Amusician and illustrator who emerged from Austin, Texas in the mid-1980s, Johnston’s songs have been covered by everyone from Tom Waits to Spiritualized to Beck, while his artwork has graced galleries from New York to London. He’s been the subject of biographies, photo books and documentaries –Jeff Feuerzeig’s film The Devil And Daniel Johnston won the Director’s Award at Sundance – while Kurt Cobain was photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing the cartoon frog Johnston drew for the cover of his 1983 album Hi, How Are You. Astraight reading of the facts reveals Johnston to be a polymath and a cultural icon. Many insiders have achieved a lot less.