Daniel Johnston R.I.P.- Austin, TX songwriter*

What a loss.


Austin Songwriting Genius Daniel Johnston Dead at 58

 

This will pass by pretty much unnoticed on this board, but man. This is pretty depressing for me. I absolutely love Daniel (look at my avatar!). If you could get past the low-fi sound and his squeaky voice, you'd find unbelievably beautiful songs. I always thought that if he could have had more popular artists cover his work, he would have made a lot more money. Rest In Peace, Danny.

 

I'll admit that I only knew of him through his Yo La Tengo connection and the scattered songs I caught on WFMU over the years. I've always meant to dig further into his own catalog, but hadn't gotten to do yet. Sad news.

 

Like Daniel, I grew up in the Ohio Valley. Spending any amount of time there, you wouldn’t know it since the only musical success the area cares about is Brad Paisley.

But he wrote this song about the place (on the WV side) and really gets it right. Rest easy.

 

Oh no...

 

Sad to hear this. I hope he finds the peace that escaped him in life.

 

This is one of my favorites. Especially when you know what Daniel ended up going through later in his life, and the fact that he already realized that he had serious mental issues when he wrote this song.

 

From the outside (and the documentary about him), it seemed like a very tough life that produced some great, beautiful songs. Still have my Songs of Pain cassette, and love every absolutely real moment on it.

 

I guess it's not unexpected. Daniel didn't take care of himself, and there was the hubbub last year when it seemed he was being overextended in touring. I'm so sad about this. I shared dinner with him and some mutual friends one night. It was quite the experience. It's hard to express how much his music meant to me over the years. When I first picked up a guitar I was intent on learning as much as I could from the album he did with Jad Fair, which had recently been released and captivated me so much. And then I went back and got every shred of his music I could get. His innocence and eloquence and unique point of view combined with his relentlessly DIY aesthetic and it was magical.

 

So sad to hear this. One of my all time favorites. Hope you are less troubled now...

 

Music allowed him to express his feelings and brought him and many others joy. Not much more to really say than that.

His life couldn’t have been easy, and his health was not what it could have been. I hope he’s found some peace.

 

What a big bummer. For about a decade I drove by the Hi, How Are You mural 5 days a week. RIP, Daniel.

 

RIP

 

I'm actually thinking this may be one of the few boards where people will notice. Interesting singer/songwriter - I wasn't terribly familiar with his music but I did catch him on Austin City Limits a couple years ago.

 

Damn, first Scott Walker, then Roky Erickson, now Daniel Johnston. All in one year.

 

i'm confident enough in my masculinity to say that this one chokes me up every time.
goodbye,
daniel...
you saw right through the bull ****.

 

Very sad.

I used to listen to his music on endless shuffle whilst painting; particularly the song The Story of An Artist, which I’d say just about sums up Daniel (as well as any number of other artists out there).

I’ll be playing some of his songs on the guitar tonight.

 

Sad news. RIP

 

This is one of the purest things ever. Rest In Peace

 

Great songwriter with a real knack for tugging the heart strings and showing a troubled but gentle soul. I'm a fan who is sad.

Kathy Mcarty's album of Daniel's songs is in my top ten of all time.

 

May he rest in peace. I saw him live some time ago, it was all very emotional. He was clearly struggling, half of the audience was in tears during his whole performance. This is very sad, he was a great songwriter.

My favorite DJ song was Grievances.

 

R.I.P.

 

Same here, except it was still Sound Exchange and Austin was affordable.