Built To Spill

"When Built to Spill was asked to be the backing band for Daniel Johnston on some Pacific Northwest dates in November 2017 -- the last Johnston would ever play before his death in 2019 -- they were handed a preferred list of about 100 songs by the beloved underground pop auteur to prepare and rehearse. While the realities of performing with the idiosyncratic Johnston may have yielded some unplanned results, the time Doug Martsch spent learning and reimagining gems from the late Texas singer-songwriter's vast catalog wasn't for naught. With sessions for his band's first proper album since 2015's Untethered Moon at a temporary standstill in 2018, Martsch quickly recorded some of his favorites (initially only intended for friends) before winding up with a full 11-track tribute album worthy of release, and true to Johnston's deeply shaggy DIY spirit. "It's supposed to sound like a demo tape, like just people in a room playing," Martsch tells Apple Music. "And that's why I kind of just wanted it for friendsâ like, 'Here's what we sounded like when we were learning these songs.'"" Better-known tunes like "Speeding Motorcycle," which endeared Johnston to audiences during the '90s indie boom, and later ones made in studios with professional bands were largely eschewed in favor of deeper cuts from the list, some of which Martsch himself hadn't previously known. "If I want to listen to Daniel Johnston, I want to listen to that early stuff, where a lot of it's just in his head and you kind of imagine that he wishes he had a band but he doesn't," Martsch says. "He still is able to make the song sound big even though it's just him by himself with a guitar or keyboard."

1. Bloody Rainbow
2. Tell Me Now
3. Honey I Sure Miss You
4. Good Morning You
5. Heart, Mind And Soul
6. Life In Vain
7. Mountain Top
8. Queenie The Dog
9. Impossible Love
10. Fake Records Of Rock & Roll
11. Fish