Live At SXSW is a live mini-album by Johnston, recorded at South By South West on March 14, 1990, two months after his last album, 1990. Stress Records released the album in 1991.
Background
After a year of institutionalization, Johnston was invited to perform at the Austin Chronicle Music Awards and South By South West 1990 after the promoters heard he was stable and medicated. The performances were highly anticipated thanks to manager Jeff Tartakov’s promotion and the releases of Merry Christmas, It’s Spooky, and 1990, all put out during his institutionalization. Johnston was flown to Austin by his father, Bill Johnston and made two in-store appearances with hundreds in attendance. On that night, Johnston performed three 8-13 minute sets at The Palmer Auditorium, Waterloo Records, and Sound Exchange Records. The shows consisted primarily of newly written material, with the exceptions being re-worked versions of “Running Water,” “Worried Shoes,” “Casper The Friendly Ghost” & “Museum of Love” from his 1983 demo tapes. The shows featured no songs from the recently released 1990.
Unknown to anyone but himself, Johnston had been flushing his medication to prepare for the show, believing that it would be better the ‘crazier’ he was. This led to a delusional episode in his father’s plane during the journey home. Johnston was reading a Casper The Friendly Ghost comic book, which featured the titular character skydiving, which fuelled his delusions. Johnston wrestled with his father, turned the engine off, threw the key out the window, and took the controls. Bill took the controls back and crashed the plane into a tree. The two got out safely and were found by their family. Johnston was hospitalized for five months, being released in August 1990.
A few months after the concert, the Palmer Auditorium version of “Do You Really Love Me?” was released as the B-Side to a re-recording of “Speeding Motorcycle” featuring Yo La Tengo.
Shortly afterward, “Do You Really Love Me?” would be retitled “Tell Me Now” and appeared on Johnston’s following album, Artistic Vice.
Legacy
Johnston would re-record “Silly Love” for the album Fun and “A Lonely Song” and “Love Wheel” for his 2006 album Lost & Found.
In 1992, Jad Fair and the Pastels released a cover of “A Lonely Song”. In 2005, Kathy McCarty released an abridged cover of “Love Wheel” on the extended version of her Daniel Johnston tribute album Dead Dog’s Eyeball. For the 2006 Johnston tribute album I Killed The Monster, Kramer created a remix of ‘Love Wheel’ based on Emily Zuzik’s cover. In 2010, Yeongene, a supergroup, featuring Duglas T Stewart, Francis MacDonald, Norman Blake & David Scott released a cover of “Do You Really Love Me?”