[Cover photo credit to Don Goede]
Shimmy-Disc has released Daniel Johnston in the 20th Century, the first comprehensive collection of Daniel Johnston’s 20th century discography, which is available in 24bit lossless audio, exclusively on Bandcamp.
Featuring Johnston’s first 14 seminal releases stretching from 1980 to 1998, each recording has been remastered from the original source tapes by Kramer, who is Shimmy-Disc’s founder and a longtime collaborator with Daniel Johnston.
The emergence of the late singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston during the 1980s may seem very unlikely. Beginning with his 1981 home-made cassette debut Songs of Pain, Johnston’s emotionally raw music documented his struggles with mental health alongside his search for love and acceptance.
Johnston’s lo-fi art struck a chord with fans and critics alike. While he’s often characterized as an outsider musician, Johnston’s impact on mainstream music is clear since he was championed by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, and his songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists including Wilco, Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, and Beck.
Compiling an archive of Johnston’s early work was difficult because he distributed his homemade tapes by hand, passing out copies one by one. When his supply disappeared, Johnston would often borrow back a copy from a friend, transferring a new run of tapes from this second generation dub. In some cases, Johnston was known to re-record an entire album from scratch.
These distribution practices led to the proliferation of multi-generation copies, and variant album versions. The recordings featured on Daniel Johnston in the 20th Century have been sourced from the best available versions of these releases provided by the Daniel Johnston Estate, and restored for the Estate’s archives in collaboration with Shimmy-Disc.
Daniel Johnston in the 20th Century is the first phase of an ongoing project to create a permanent archive for Johnston’s complete recorded output, available to the public on Bandcamp. This series will continue in 2024 with Daniel Johnston in the 21st Century, which promises a monthly release of 12 titles throughout the year, featuring a subscription option for dedicated fans. The plan will continue in 2025 with alternate versions of known Johnston releases, along with newly unearthed archival recordings, including demos, interviews, and live performances.
All 14 albums are now available at danieljohnston.bandcamp.com for “Pay What You Want” through December 20, 2023. 100% of profits go to the Daniel Johnston Estate for the sole purpose of preserving Daniel’s musical and artistic legacy.
