Singer-songwriter / outsider icon / Texas music legend Daniel Johnston turns 51 years old this week. We here at 29-95 are big fans of Johnston's songs and art, as are a great number of local musicians. In late 2009, Catastrophic Theatre produced a play called Life is Happy and Sad at Diverseworks, featuring Bring Back the Guns frontman Matt Brownlie portraying Johnston as a young man in Austin. Audience members who stuck around after the show's final two performances were treated to Daniel Johnston "Hoot Nights," where musicians ranging from Buxton's Sergio Trevino to Secret Prostitutes' Chris Ryan (!) played some of their favorite Daniel Johnston songs.

Daniel Johnston: Photo by Jessica Kourkounis for the Chronicle

I recently dug up video from this event and, in honor of Johnston's birthday, decided to share a few of these songs. Johnston's catalog is as rich as it is massive, and the performances are as varied as Houston's music scene, from Young Mammals' power-pop treatment of material from Artistic Vice to Grandfather Child's Lucas Gorham's lap-steel rendition of "I Had Lost My Mind" to Giant Princess' Collin Hedrick's noisy deconstruction of "Some Things Last a Long Time." Many thanks to Catastrophic Theatre and Diverseworks, to Teresa Vicinanza and Chris Patterson for filming these clips, and of course to all the musicians who participated. Caveat: I was the dude who set the Hoot Nights up, and I may or may not appear in a video or two.

"I Had Lost My Mind"

"True Love Will Find You in the End"

"Broken Dream"

"Lousy Weekend"

"My Life is Starting Over Again"

"Spirit World Rising"

"Psycho Nightmare"

"Some Things Last a Long Time"

"I Did Acid with Caroline"

"Cold Hard World"

"Grievances"

"Tell Me Now"