With three decades of beloved music and a famous mural on the Drag, songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston’s influence on Austin and beyond is undeniable. After his sudden passing in September, a dozen musicians joined at the Mohawk to celebrate his life and remind everyone that “Some Things Last A Long Time.”
Story By Carys Anderson
The band Moving Panoramas takes the stage to play at the celebration of the late Daniel Johnson tribute concert at Mohawk. Photo by Veronica Thompson
There’s been an outpouring of love given to Daniel Johnston since he passed away Sept. 11, from impromptu celebrations to a billboard in his honor on I-35. But one of the larger, planned tributes to the Austin legend occurred on Thursday, Oct. 10, when 12 artists performed his songs at the Mohawk.
The lineup ranged from Johnston’s peers to the next generation of artists that he inspired. Singer-songwriter Jane Ellen Bryant sang an emotional “Peek A Boo,” neo-soul band Blumoon contributed singer Kendra Sells’ siren vocals to “Some Things Last A Long Time,” and songwriter Walker Lukens emphasized the dissonance in early Johnston favorite “Sorry Entertainer” with his electric guitar performance. Lukens said he always wanted to perform with Johnston, who he discovered at age 18 when he was suffering from anxiety and depression. Lukens said Johnston, who had schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder, made his problems okay, and made it like a “superpower.”
Lukens’ label-mates Moving Panoramas brought their shoegaze spin to Johnston’s songs with renditions of “Mind Movies” and “Worried Shoes.” Before their set, the band hailed him as a staple of the Austin music scene.
“When I first moved to Austin, I was dating a guy who worked at Waterloo Records, and he had a friend that worked at Sound Exchange (the now-defunct record store that housed Johnston’s Hi, How Are You mural), and he took me there right away and bought me a Daniel Johnston cassette,” singer-guitarist Leslie Sisson remembered.
Recounting a similar experience, drummer Jody Suarez said Johnston’s “bent and beautiful world” had affected enough people to place him “as deep in the heart of Texas as Willie Nelson.”
Moving Panoramas played with Johnston last year at the second Hi, How Are You Day, which honored his 57th birthday. Sisson remembered Johnston’s “ecstatic” reaction to their performance of “Speeding Motorcycle,” before they grew emotional themselves acting as his backing band for “True Love Will Find You In The End.”
Beyond their willingness to play music by an artist who impacted them, the band was also happy to support the Hi, How Are You Project, which proceeds from the event benefited. The project, named after Johnston’s 1983 album and the mural of its artwork he painted on 21st and Guadalupe, seeks to start conversations about mental health and end the stigma surrounding mental illness.
“The organization is exactly what my mission in life has always been,” Sisson said. “Your brain is an organ of your body, and just like any other part of your body, it needs maintenance and care. I tell everyone I go to therapy once a week and I am proud of it and I don’t go because there’s something wrong with me; I go to therapy when there’s nothing wrong. It’s just maintenance.”
Kendra Sells, lead singer of the band Blumoon, performs “Some Things Last a Long Time” at Mohawk in honor of the late Daniel Johnson. Photo by Veronica Thompson
How exactly will the money help start conversations about mental health? By educating the next generation, project co-founder and longtime Johnston manager Tom Gimbel says.
“Our main project is creating a video training series for middle school and high school,” Gimbel said. “We work with American Campus Communities, who own the dorm on 21st and Guadalupe where the mural is. We’re working with them to train all of their RAs across the country in how to identify kids in need and how to have those conversations.”
According to Gimbel, the proceeds will help fund these training videos and help the organization go from training college RAs to middle and high school students.
The last performances of the night were reserved for the artists who worked with Johnston. Jad Fair gave an intense, passionate performance of songs like “Casper the Friendly Ghost” before lending the limelight to Kramer, who produced both Fair’s band Half Japanese and Johnston. Kramer gave a contrasting subdued performance before Fair returned for the singalong “Devil Town,” holding signs with the lyrics for the crowd like Bob Dylan in the video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” In their duet of “Some Things Last A Long Time,” Fair clenched his guitar so hard during the noise interludes that the neck broke off.
Finally, Kathy McCarty, veteran of the Austin music scene, stepped on stage to sing songs by her old friend. Eyes closed and smiling, her connection to the music was evident; McCarty recorded an entire album of covers by Johnston back in 1995, but she told the audience his songs had begun to mean even more to her since his passing.
McCarty was then joined on stage by the remaining lineup for an acapella rendition of “True Love Will Find You In The End.” While Johnston often sang heartbroken songs about his longing for love, something his health prevented him from finding, it was clear at the Mohawk that generations of musicians and music fans truly loved him. Here’s hoping he heard their message.
