memoir of the same name, was posthumously released in 2018. Other careers Graphic art Callahan worked on nudes and a portrait project, which was shown in several galleries throughout its progression. Songwriting Callahan was also a songwriter. He released a CD, Purple Winos in the Rain, in 2006. He wrote and composed his own lyrics, and sang and played the harmonica and ukulele. The record was released on BoneClone Records and produced by blues musician Terry Robb, who also plays guitar accompaniment on several tracks, with a special cameo appearance by Tom Waits. Callahan personally illustrated the album cover. Posthumously, in 2018, track 14, "Texas When You Go," a duet recording of Callahan and Robb, was included in the film score for Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot. The Independent called his songs "beautiful, but dark." He wrote all the music and lyrics himself and was backed up by many notable musicians. A Dutch film crew recorded the studio sessions in which Callahan played a simplified piano version of "Roll Away the Day." Personal life John Callahan was adopted as an infant and grew up in The Dalles. His adoptive parents later had five biological children. He attended a Roman Catholic elementary school, St Mary's Academy, and graduated from a public high school. According to his memoir, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, the nun, Sister Joseph of Mary, chose him as her surrogate child and insisted he sit with her at recess and not play with the other children, constantly telling him how special he was. In his book, Callahan said, "I can imagine myself sitting on that bench and thinking Boy, this will be called child molestation twenty years from now." He began drinking at the age of 12. "I used the alcohol to hide the pain of the abuse," Callahan said. After the car accident that caused his spinal cord injury, he went through extensive rehabilitation. At the age of 27, he gave up drinking alcohol. He made his home in Portland, Oregon. References External links Scene Missing Magazine Interviews John Callahan Glide Magazine reviews Callahan performance at Edgefield w/My Morning Jacket 1951 births 2010 deaths American cartoonists American male singer-songwriters American harmonica players American ukulele players Album-cover and concert-poster artists American humorists American memoirists American adoptees Artists with disabilities People with tetraplegia Artists from Portland, Oregon Musicians from Portland, Oregon American male