When Jack Johnson suffered a major wipeout on his surfboard almost 10 years ago, it may have been the best thing that ever happened to us.
Not that the 26-year-old Oahu, Hawii native and son of a surfing legend wasn't a promising athlete with a bright future on the pro circuit.
It's just that the accident gave him a few months to concentrate on his music and --without this forced time away from the surf -- we may not have what we have now.
What "we have" is a brilliantly mellow debut album in which Johnson successfully applies his laid-back, carefree attitude to create a unique and refreshing musical style.
The former competitive surfer takes you along for the ride on Brushfire Fairytales, making you feel the highs, the lows, the waves, the wipeouts, the breaks, the swells and more.
Fans of G. Love & Special Sauce may remember Johnson from, "Rodeo Clowns," the group's only radio hit off of 1999's Philadelphonic.
G. Love had his, "...man Jack Johnson in the studio today. They just got in off the surf."
Yes, that's right. Not only was "Rodeo Clowns" Johnson's song, but the UCSB film grad actually met G. Love -- a fan of his surf films and the man who gave his music career a jumpstart -- while surfing in Southern California.
And the connection between surfing and music doesn't end there. Johnson makes you feel just about everything throughout Brushfire Fairytales' 13 tracks -- happy, sad, silly, serious, relaxed, re-energized -- making it a lesson in contradictions and showing how an artist can be mellow without being boring. In fact, he juxtaposes an array of emotions and styles for an effect that many musicians attempt, but very few actually achieve.
Johnson, who covers the guitar, piano and vocals, creates a distinctive brand of folk funk that resembles some blues-inspired rock. Throw in some hip hop beats and an appealing rhythm, thanks to the help of a bassist known only as Merlo and the percussion of Adam Topol, and you have Johnson's sweet sound.
Take, for example, the opening track, "Inaudible Melodies," in which Johnson uses soothing, continuous vocals to navigate some choppy backup sounds in a song about silent films. And while "Inaudible Melodies" sets the tone, the highlight of the album quite possibly comes on "Flake," which features Ben Harper sitting in on steel guitar.
Johnson toured with Harper last year and the two musicians show some musical closeness through a playful, instrumental duel that fades in and out of the roughly five minute track. In the intro, there's some gentle yet dazzling tension between Harper's steel melody and Johnson's acoustic chords, and the friction carries through until the song unexpectedly departs from its melody-driven course with a bluesy, swing-style finale.
Another highlight, "Mudfootball," is about as up-tempo as Brushfire Fairytales gets, and it provides a perfect picture of Johnson's acoustic simplicity. At points in the short track, he takes just a few chords and makes them sound like more by giving them some rhythm. He also switches gears by contrasting slower riffs with a faster drum roll on short instrumentals, and the bulk of the song is a vocal back-and-forth between smooth melodies and broken up chatter.
And that's exactly what "my man Jack Johnson" does best. Brushfire Fairytales thrives on his ability to play with tempo -- to skip from a slow, soothing bluesy feeling to a pace that turns into gentle hip-hop and melodic rap.
In doing so, Johnson puts the soul at ease, creating that feel-good, relaxing, kick back, sit back and enjoy it kind of music you could only expect from an artsy surfer.
And the only music you could expect to make you feel this good.
