Singer and songwriter Daniel Johnston built a cult following in Texas from his crudely recorded homemade cassette tapes. His songs are often informed by his daily struggle with bipolar disorder, which he now has under control, and themes of unrequited love.
After growing up in West Virginia, Johnston moved to Austin, Texas to go to University. There his mental illness became problematic, but he found an outlet in music, despite not having good instruments or much technical ability to play them. He recorded tapes and gave them to friends, who passed them on to others so that gradually Johnston’s reputation grew through word of mouth.
In 1990, after playing at a festival in Texas, Johnston suffered a manic episode while his pilot father was flying him home to West Virginia. Luckily they both escaped unharmed after Daniel’s father crash-landed the plane, but the incident prompted Daniel to be committed to a mental institution. In the early 90s Johnston’s reputation grew as alt rockers like Eddie Vedder, Sonic Youth and Kurt Cobain all revealed themselves to be fans.
Johnston was able to release one album on major label Atlantic, but Fun (1994) proved he was very much still a cult musician: it only sold a few thousand copies, and he was dropped. In 2005, Johnston was the subject of a Sundance Award-winning documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig.
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