Johnston never wanted to be mythologized he only wanted others to share and experience the music that he created so honestly and prolifically. It's ironic that a man often described as 'the most unpretentious artist of our generation' has, in displaying no discernible artifice in his music, inspired a type of deep-felt admiration amongst his devotees that approaches exclusive worship.
The very existence of a combination career retrospective/tribute album to Daniel Johnston, one of the great underground successes in the annals of independent music, presents a paradox: The same universal acknowledgement of honesty in his music that so often leads to an intense personal association with Johnston's oeuvre also invariably leads to an almost possessively purist attitude toward most of his work.
