Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 10, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its "pure" and "childlike" qualities. Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald's in Austin, Texas. His cult status was propelled when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from Johnston's 1983 album Hi, How Are You. In 2005, Johnston was the subject of the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
Links to Peel
Peel first played Daniel Johnston's work in 1990 and would often play his songs until around 2000, when he seemed to have lost interest. Nonetheless many of Peel's listeners in 1998 praised his music, allowing his track Dream Scream to reach number 12 in the Festive Fifty.
