Hi, How Are You Day celebrates Daniel Johnston

January 22, 2025

Let’s celebrate, “Hi, How Are You Day”, an annual event honoring the late singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston. The Indianapolis-based label Joyful Noise Recordings will be hosting a special “Hi, How Are You Day” event on January 24, featuring an exhibition of Daniel Johnston’s visual artwork. The exhibit was curated by Johnston’s friend and former road manager Don Goede. 

Listen to interviews with Goede, and Joyful Noise Recordings’ founder Karl Hofstetter, as they discuss the significance of Johnston’s music. 

Daniel Johnston was born in Sacramento, California in 1961 and he grew up in West Virginia. As a teenager, Johnston began obsessively creating music and art, often recording his songs on cheap consumer tape recorders. Throughout his life, Johnston faced serious mental health issues, struggling with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. In his music, Johnston wrote about his life and troubles with disarming honesty. 

While living in Austin, Texas in the mid 1980s, Johnston began distributing his homemade tapes by hand, passing cassettes out to friends and strangers. By the late 1980s, Johnston’s tapes had fallen into the hands of high-profile indie rock musicians, including members of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., who championed his music. In 1992, Johnston’s name was thrust into popular culture, when Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain appeared on MTV wearing a Daniel Johnston t-shirt.           

Johnston died in 2019 at the age of 58, but his legacy remains stronger than ever. Johnston’s music has expanded beyond the world of underground rock, with artists including Lana Del Rey, Beck and Tom Waits performing his songs.