The Electric Ghosts

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The Electric Ghosts

Studio album by Daniel Johnston and Don Goede
Released	2006
Label	Important Records

The Electric Ghosts is a collaboration between Daniel Johnston and Don Goede (also known as Jack Medicine), released in 2006 on Important Records.

Don Goede (one of the original founders of Soft Skull Press)became tour manager/caretaker for Daniel Johnston in 1999, for at least 100 shows. The album is a result of songs recorded by the pair in hotel rooms before and after performances. Cover of the first album by Ron English. Produced by Mark Kramer (the founder of Shimmy Disc Records, Mad Francis, and Paul Rubenstein. A DVD documentary about Daniel Johnston, called The Devil and Daniel Johnston, was released on September 19, 2006. The film has won numerous awards at film festivals such as Sundance, and has been screened worldwide to almost unanimous acclaim.

"This album is basically the result of three years of Daniel and I living on the road together. I became his tour manager/caretaker in 1999 and spent many long hours with him traveling from city to city. I¹m not sure of the exact number of performances Dan did but I think we did at least 100 shows all over the U.S. and Europe. We often found ourselves hanging out before and after concerts in hotel rooms so we decided to bring some recording equipment with us and start a recording band. A few times we played together on stage and he sometimes would ask me to warm up for him. We decided to call ourselves The Electric Ghosts. The name came from the many nights we stayed up talking about the spirit world. I would often tell Dan that I thought ghosts were electrical. He would say they were spiritual. Either way we felt like we were ghosts haunting a different city every night. Floating through, trying our best to get the jist of each town (or at the very least visit its best record or comic book store) but in order to stay on schedule we always had to push on. I hope you enjoy these recordings we have put together for you. Daniel likes them very much and I do too, as they were a fun way for us to kill time on the road, not only playing them for each other but getting them onto tape together. Daniel also oversaw most of the post production by me playing him tracks over the phone. He always had helpful suggestions on where to put things like leads and such. He heard the final recordings when I saw him last at Sundance for the premiere of the documentary about his life called The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Those years with Dan on the road were some of the best times I have ever had. Not only is he one of my favorite songwriters of all time but also now a very good friend. Before I forget I want to thank Bill & Mabel Johnston, Ron English for painting the cover, John at Important Records, Mad Francis for helping me bring everything together and Danny, most of all, for being my biggest fan and letting me ride his coat tails. “ -Don Goede