A Nod to Daniel Johnston

I write a lot of songs, but life has a habit of shoving creativity down my to-do list. It leaves me feeling stagnant and frustrated. I’m also impatient—especially with songwriting. As soon as one’s done, I’m already onto the next. That means I usually record in a rush, release with no real plan, and since I hate doing promo, the reception’s lukewarm at best. It’s a dull cycle, and I want to have fun again—and hopefully take a few of you with me. Enter Daniel Johnston.

If you’re not familiar, Wikipedia sums him up like this: Daniel Dale Johnston (1961–2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a key figure in outsider, lo-fi and alternative music. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone at home, celebrated for their “pure” and “childlike” qualities.

I got into him during lockdown and was fascinated by those early recordings—rough, warped, sometimes barely legible, but completely beautiful. No polish, no vocal comping, no reverb, no “shit, can we try that again?” Just imperfection at its finest. He’d record whole albums like that and hand out cassettes for free. (His middle name’s Dale too—a nice wee coincidence.)

So here’s my version. No tape recorder—just my voice notes app. Instead of handing out cassettes, I’ll post songs here. I want to do this regularly. And who knows—if people want it, maybe one day I’ll make a wee cassette :)