His home is filled with a vast collection of tapes, videos, records, comic books and other items bought mostly from thrift shops and dollar stores. Every shelf and ledge is crammed with his treasured finds.

The ranch-style brick house with the “crazy” yellow trim (as his father, Bill, calls it) is as unassuming as Johnston is in person.

To most, he looks like an average middle-aged man; graying hair, somewhat unkempt, mustache, robust build. A little bit shy, but easy to laugh, he looks at home in his t-shirt and sweat pants. There’s a child-like sensibility about him, reflected in his massive collection of comic books and memorabilia.

Below, reporter and photographer Holly Dutton's photos of Johnston at his Waller home.

Polite and welcoming, Johnston is eager to show off his video collection and give a tour of his house, which he is obviously proud of. He lived next door with his parents for many years until recently moving into his own home. He is also proud of the wealth he has accrued, which he came a long way to get to.

“I mean, I used to work at McDonalds and an oil refinery,” he said.

In 2006, a documentary about his life and music, “The Devil and Daniel Johnston,” was released to critical acclaim, and won a directing award at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie used footage from the immense collection of home movies and audio recordings Johnston has amassed over the years to tell his story.

In Waller, some people recognize him as “the guy from that movie,” but others simply know him as their neighbor.

“Some people just know him as the nice guy that always comes in and buys videotapes,” said Margie, Johnston’s older sister. “But some people know he’s…Daniel Johnston. It happens, he’ll be walking around the street in Houston and someone will recognize him.”

A man known as “Danny” to his friends, Johnston has cultivated an impressive cult following of his music, which was largely inspired by The Beatles and recorded do-it-yourself-style on a low-quality boom box. His songs, many of them heartfelt tales about unrequited love, are melodious and jarringly direct.

A native of West Virginia, Johnston spent several years in Austin in the 80s and early 90s, where he frequently played live shows, handed out his homemade tapes and even performed on an MTV show.

He began to amass a following of dedicated fans, possibly the most famous of which was Nirvana’s late lead singer Kurt Cobain, who often wore a t-shirt with Johnston’s famous “Hi how are you” drawing. The original of that drawing is still emblazoned on the side of a building on Guadalupe Street in the heart of the University of Texas campus.

Throughout his career, Johnston has suffered from manic depression, a subject well-documented in “The Devil and Daniel Johnston.” Diagnosed with the disorder in college, he spent years in and out of mental hospitals struggling with the affliction.

Since moving to Waller 20 years ago, Johnston says he’s in a good place, and loves the “peace and quiet” of the small farming town.

“A lot of things are going pretty good for us right now, we hope to keep it going, and we even plan to build a studio in the back to do recordings and stuff, and a swimming pool too would be cool,” he laughed.

His father, Bill, and his older brother, Dick, manage his career and schedule his tour dates.

Johnston will return to Austin, the city where he rose to fame, to perform at the Austin City Limits Festival Oct. 2.

Margie, his sister, manages his art career.

Johnston spends his days drawing and writing music, watched over by Spunky, his loyal calico cat he’s had for a year and a half. Spunky perches on a ledge near his drawing desk and on the couch where he watches videos from his voluminous collection of movies, a compilation so vast, it spills over from his studio and living room, taking over a whole bedroom of his house.

Many themes run through Johnston’s artwork and music, including popular comic book characters such as Spiderman, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Captain America. Pop culture characters from the past few decades are among the many items Johnston has collected over the years, like The Simpsons figurines resting on a shelf while pictures of Marilyn Monroe hang on the walls of his studio room, where he creates his art.

Since 1999, Johnston has played music with his band Danny and the Nightmares. Tomball resident Jason “Nightmare,” who also appeared in the documentary, plays guitar in the band, while his wife, Bridget, plays drums.

Jason said the day he met Johnston, April Fool’s Day 1999, they started the band. Jason said his wife had never played drums before then, but became drummer “by default.”

After 10 years, Jason still enjoys playing music with his good friend and band member.

“We have a very interesting band, it’s not like anything else,” he said. “It’s very improvised and loose. The whole thing is very democratic.”

Jason said he usually sees Johnston once a week to hang out and practice. The band is looking to release their latest album, “The Death of Satan,” a project three years in the works, in the near future.

“It was a blessing for all of us to meet each other,” Jason said. “He’s a really fantastic guy.”

Johnston will play at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Oct. 2 from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m.

His new album, “Is and Always Was,” will be released Oct. 6 and available for purchase on his Web site.

For more information about Johnston’s music and artwork, visit www.hihowareyou.com.

The following is an excerpt from Holly Dutton's conversation with Daniel Johnston.

I know The Beatles are your number one inspiration, what other bands inspire you?

“Oh yeah, they’re hilarious, there’s nothing more fun than The Beatles. Just the same as anyone else, major label, anyone that is really famous has to at least be pretty good just to make it there. I do like the early Queen albums a whole lot, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Carpenters, Elvis Presley and a zillion more people. The Beach Boys, it’s hard to keep track of how many people I love. It seems like if I just listen to a record I’ll just end up loving it.”

Margie: “That’s true. He’ll be in my truck sometimes when I’m playing some gospel quartet thing and he’ll say, ‘I love that!’ (Laughs) He likes a lot of different stuff.”

Are there any bands or artists that you are listening to right now that you really like?

“Well, The Beatles really, are still up there. But I’m not really listening to that much other kind of music right now because I’m trying to work on my albums coming up. So if I listen to anything I’ll just play tapes and just play duplicates of me playing covers and my own songs.” (Laughs)

Have you ever played a show in Waller?

“Not much, (laughs) these people probably don’t know who I am, except if they’ve seen the documentary. It was so popular over at the blockbuster video downtown; they had five copies in syndication. I said ‘man, it must be popular.’ And then Siskel and Ebert, you know, the critics, gave it two thumbs up, so we did pretty good. I would have been hurt if they said something different.”

When you play live shows, what kind of experience is that for you?

“Well, I’m always nervous, as you can tell, I’ve been stuttering lately a lot, and as soon as I get out on stage I start playing and I keep thinking, ‘I gotta get this over with man, I gotta get off the stage,’ (laughs) so I just hack it and get it over with.”

How does the crowd’s reaction influence you?

“They usually go crazy. The last show we did on the last tour there was no response for some reason, but it’s usually yelling crowds.”

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