Built to Spill to Release a Daniel Johnston Tribute Album

Built to Spill have announced a new album, the aptly titled Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston. In August 2018, Doug Martsch, Jason Albertini and Steve Gere recorded these songs during rehearsals for their performances backing Daniel Johnston, who passed away on Sept. 11, 2019.

Martsch discussed the album with Rolling Stone, saying, “It was pretty special for us,” and adding, “Basically we wanted to get good documentation of what our rehearsals were like. It was a lot heavier than what I thought it would be.”

Tae Won Yu, a longtime designer for Built to Spill, created the sweetly melancholic album art. Built to Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston is set to be released on May 1 via Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Watch Built to Spill perform album opener “Bloody Rainbow” below (you can also listen and preorder via Bandcamp here), plus a performance from the Paste archives, and see the details of their covers album and their tour dates further down.