Liner Notes: Daniel Johnston, 'Is And Always Was'

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DANIEL JOHNSTON HAS the kind of back-story you'd think was made up: Quirky singer-songwriter builds cult following with lo-fi recordings and is hailed as a genius, but his debilitating struggle with mental illness — and some illicit drug use — lands him in a mental institution. While institutionalized, Kurt Cobain starts wearing a T-shirt with a Johnston drawing on it, his stock grows and a major-label bidding war erupts.

After his release, Johnston spirals in and out of control. At one point, he's throwing the keys out of the airplane his father was piloting, forcing them to make a crash landing.

"In terms of creating a legend, he's done everything right," former girlfriend and Glass Eye member Kathy McCarty says in "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," the 2005 documentary about the singer.

It's cultivating a sustainable career that's proved more difficult. This is a man who once — thinking all his belongings were possessed by the devil — threw his entire backlog of recordings away. But that's part of the legend, and it's something Johnston, since diagnosed as manic depressive, seems to relish.

Now 48, Johnston's as stable as ever. For years he lived with his parents, Bill and Mabel, both in their 80s, in Waller, Texas, but he recently moved into his own house next door. Johnston's also touring — he'll play the 9:30 Club on Oct. 13 — writing, recording and drawing. There's a biopic about his life in the works, and recently, Johnston's camp released perhaps the strangest product of his creations yet: an iPhone and iPod game. "Hi, How Are You," named after one of Johnston's most beloved albums, features cell-shaded renderings of his famous art, plenty of religious imagery and, of course, his music.

On Oct. 6, Johnston releases his first album in six years, "Is And Always Was" (Eternal Yip Eye Music / High Wire Music).

Almost an equal collaboration with producer Jason Falkner — he's played with Beck, Air and Paul McCartney — the album finds Falkner sprucing up Johnston's signature lo-fi sound. For most songs, Johnston let Falkner and drummer Joey Waronker handle the finished product, giving each song a clear, full sound. An obvious reference point for Johnston has always been the Beatles, and "Is And Always Was" is perhaps his most Beatles-centric disc to date, especially because Falkner shares Johnston's affinity for the Fab Four.

Johnston still has everyday struggles — it's apparent during our interview when it takes considerable pressing to get more than a sentence out of him — but for a man who many thought wouldn't make it out of the '90s alive, let alone make it as a successful musician, he's done damn well for himself

Express tasked Johnston with guiding us through a brief tour of his latest work.

"Mind Movies"
I love the Beatles very much and a lot of what I write sounds like the Beatles, but this time the producer was a real Beatlemaniac and when he recorded the tracks on production and stuff it sounded like Beatles and I love it — I love the album very much. ["Mind movies" means] mind games, mind speak — it's like people thinking about something that had happened, like a reoccurring dream, some endeavor with the supernatural.

"Fake Records of Rock And Roll"
For one thing when you go to buy an album like Chicago, or whoever they are, they seem to be re-recorded, they're not like the original versions. Something's different about them. It's like it's re-done — sometimes by the very performer — but it doesn't sound like — you miss the clarity of the original recording, like they're doing their hits over and over again. They don't seem to be original recordings.

"Queenie the Doggie"
My dog died last year, we had to put her to sleep because she got hurt real bad and she was my favorite dog.

"High Horse"
There was this girl that I really liked a lot when I went to college, she got married to the undertaker, she was a real high-class girl and I was kind of a low-class guy and that's sort of what the song's about.

"Without You"
I was singing to Satan in that one. It's pretty weird, I admit. What I do is not really comedy, more like serious humorous, like "Planet 9 From Outer Space," one of my favorite movies. When people hear it they go, "Well that's not quite right, but it's sort of humorous so I enjoy it."

"I Had Lost My Mind"
It was in ["The Devil and Daniel Johnston"], so we did a new version of it, the producer wanted to do it. When I recorded I would just record the vocal and my guitar. When he was on his own he added the instrumentation.

"Freedom"
"Freedom," well that was originally entitled "Free Doom." ... It was sort of a sappy song. It was just like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," somewhat.

"Tears"
That's the one track that's more of my music without the re-done overdubs. That's closer to the original.

"Is And Always Was"
We do "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" on the tour. For a while there we did "Help" and "I'm So Tired." There is no doubt that the Beatles is my main influence. If someone thinks I sound like the Beatles, I sound like the Beatles.

"Lost in My Infinite Memory"
It sounds pretty good, but the live version that I do on tour is a lot simpler.

"Light of Day"
It sounded good to end pretty well at the end. It's a Beatles tribute — all the tricks I knew with chords and stuff, I put it into one song. It ended up quite different then the way I originally ended it.

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; with The Capitol Years; Tues. Oct. 13, 7 p.m., $25; 202-265-0930. (U St.-Cardozo)