Jack Johnson, born in Honolulu in 1975, traded competitive surfing for laid-back acoustic songwriting released through his own Brushfire Records. In Between Dreams (2005) is the defining record; Brushfire Fairytales (2001) is where it all started. Shop Jack Johnson vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Jack Hody Johnson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 18, 1975. He was a competitive surfer in his teens (qualifying for the Pipeline Masters at age 17) before a serious surfing accident at the Pipeline at age 17 redirected his focus. He attended UC Santa Barbara, where he studied film. His debut album Brushfire Fairytales (2001) was produced by J.P. Plunier and engineered by Mario Caldato Jr. He has continued releasing material on his own Brushfire Records (which has also released Donavon Frankenreiter, Animal Liberation Orchestra, and Matt Costa). He also produced the soundtrack for the Curious George (2006) film and has been involved in environmental activism, with the Kōkua Hawaii Foundation supporting environmental education in Hawaii.
Jack Johnson's sound combines surf rock, acoustic rock, folk rock, soft rock, and singer-songwriter with intimate vocal delivery, fingerpicked acoustic guitar work, and laid-back arrangements drawing on classic California folk-rock and surf reference points. His work has been a defining commercial acoustic singer-songwriter template of the 2000s.
Brushfire Records pressings of the Jack Johnson catalog have been issued in multiple color variant editions and limited deluxe pressings. Multiple anniversary editions of In Between Dreams have been released.
Listeners new to Jack Johnson typically start with In Between Dreams (2005) or On and On (2003).
