Daniel Johnston “At Home” Films Online

From the filmmaker of the 2005 Johnston documentary.

By Blurt Staff

Footage and audio tracks from renowned visual artist Stephen Tompkins sessions with Daniel Johnston, the Austin-based singer/songwriter featured in the 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, have now been made available online as a collection named Daniel Johnston: At Home Live and can be found at www.danieljohnstonlive.com and iTunes (as well as Napster, Rhapsody and most digital content providers).

"My aim was to bridge Daniel's early lo-fi and boom box recording technique days with his more commercial/produced later albums. At Home Live seemed to fit nicely between and as a rare look into Daniel's studio where he writes much of his music," Explained Tompkins.  "As I filmed I was delighted that I had my own private Daniel Johnston concert on film. I thought, "What if I could film Bob Dylan performing in his house?"  I wanted my film to be a sort of cinema verite, to show the myth of Daniel Johnston performing in his authentic creative environment, keeping in mind that some people back then had never even seen Daniel in photos or at one of his shows. When you listen to the early tapes, there is an intimate quality to Daniel's voice, as if he's only singing for himself. Daniel's music is an "acousmetre" because the quality of his voice cannot be pinned down to a tangible reality; it taps into one's imagination as to where this music was recorded. I wanted to show that environment on film somehow. So I just let the camera roll from a fixed position, with no cuts at all as if you were just sitting next to him, as a sort of ghost.""Thirteen videos and mp3s are available including songs "Kool-Aid," "I Had A Dream" and "Try To Love." 

Tompkins filmed over four hours of raw footage at Johnston's home in Waller, Texas in 1999 with the only onlookers being neighboring cows. Tompkins intentionally held on to the film for ten years before releasing it, viewing this footage and audio as a time capsule.  The duo of Johnston and Tompkins have a lengthy history, having done a two-man exhibition in Austin titled "The Art Of Daniel Johnston & Stephen Tompkins" and will soon be featured in a new book from Dirty Pilot titled "Year One Rewind."