Before leaving work today i got a couple of texts with the terrible news that Austin icon Daniel Johnston had passed away today from a heart attack at the age of 58. I've long been a fan of the artist, which i guess is kind of expected when you live in Austin, and was fortunate enough to get to see him perform 10 years ago. And i remember when i moved here in 1997, you could still get his old handmade cassettes at Sound Exchange, a now defunct record store by the UT campus and home of the Jeremiah The Innocent graffiti art. He will definitely be missed. In picking out a Johnston track to play, i decided against my favorite song of his, "True Love Will Find You in the End," and against "Story of an Artist," a track that can move me to tears when in the right mood, and instead chose something that's maybe a little more uplifting but still melancholy. Listen to "The Sun Shines Down on Me" below and check out any and all of Johnston's music.
Oh, and definitely watch Jeff Feuerzeig's 2006 documentary, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," if you've never seen it. It's heartbreaking and wonderful.
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