daniel johnston or, what you missed last night

sometimes this city, it disappoints me: there was little more than a half-full room at the bottom of the hill last night for basia bulat's show. even if she did stretch the bounds of decorum by keeping us waiting until sunday morning before taking the stage - behavior more readily excused for more established acts - she and her band deserved better. by night's end the intrepid were treated to an impressive set; basia sounded better live than on her recordings, and she and her four fellow band members may be one of the happiest groups around. among the highlights were an expanded and slightly rearranged "before i knew"; her fine imitation of sam cooke; and "pilgrimming vine":

basia bulat - before i knew (radio 3 session)
basia bulat - pilgrimming vine (radio 3 session)

perhaps the most notable moment, however, came at the close of her 3 song encore and a dynamite cover of the daniel johnston song "true love will find you in the end." unfortunately i do not have a recording of her performing this one [update: basia recorded this song with the guys from daytrotter], but it's a lovely enough song to share on its own. so here's the original as well as covers by beck, which appears on the 2004 johnston tribute album discovered covered, and by jeff tweedy:

daniel johnston - true love will find you in the end
beck - true love will find you in the end
jeff tweedy - true love will find you in the end

johnston is touring currently himself, something of an infrequent occurrence, the dates for which can be found here.