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Review: Daniel Johnston at St. David’s
“Well, that’s all I’ve got for now,” Daniel Johnston mumbled about 20 minutes into his show Friday night at St. David’s Episcopal Church. He had just rambled through three songs on his acoustic guitar, pounding Diet Cokes and obsessively flipping through his lyrics book in between. The 125 or so people in attendance, who were no doubt there just as much to see the idiosyncratic pop-song machine as they were to hear him, had their first awkwardness-as-comedy moment of an intimate set filled with many of them. I know I wasn’t the only one thinking, is it really all over?
Nope. It was just the end of the solo stuff. Roots cover band Strings Attached, who had backed Johnston on opener “Living Life” — wherein Johnston, fists balled, down at his sides, twitched as intensely as Joe Cocker at Woodstock as he sang, “Living, living, living, living, living, living, living, living life” — rejoined him for an hour’s worth of rhyming couplets mostly about girls, ghosts, dreams and death.
They kicked off things with “Mind Movies” and “High Horse,” from Johnston’s glossy new album “Is and Always Was,” which was produced by Beck collaborator Jason Falkner. It was a smart idea to have a backing band for Johnston so he could concentrate solely on singing, but I’m not sure Strings Attached was the best fit — unless, of course, Johnston wanted to convey the subtle country vibe created by Strings’ mandolin and violin flourishes.
In between golden oldies “Speeding Motorcycle” and “Life in Vain,” Johnston, having finally warmed to the crowd, told a joke. “I had a dream,” he said, “that this guy was sentenced to death for suicide — and it was me, in the back of the courtroom, going, ‘No, no.’” Johnston rode the momentum of the laughs it generated and played two more songs from the new album, “Tears” and “Freedom” (originally titled “Freedoom,” he said), before calling for an impromptu intermission.
Upon return, Johnston and Strings played “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles, after which Johnston said, “I have a special Christmas gift for you all.” And with that, he sang a warm and fuzzy version of “True Love Will Find You in the End.” A standing ovation ensued. As Will Taylor of Strings introduced his players over the thunderous clapping, Johnston grabbed his guitar and remaining Diet Cokes, and split for his dressing room.
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