Special Tribute: The Devil and Daniel Johnston

“The sun shines down on me.” For decades, underground music hero Daniel Johnston inspired countless fans and artists—from Kurt Cobain and Tom Waits to Beck and Lana Del Rey—with his haunting honesty and childlike songs of loneliness, mortality and unrequited love. In the wake of Johnston's passing, we revisit the cult 2005 film that introduced his singular genius to a wider audience—but also shed light on the singer-songwriter’s lifelong struggles with mental illness. Super 8 home movies, self recordings and drawings immortalize an exceptionally influential voice that steered the course of alternative music, while remaining decidedly outside of it.