Jack Johnson: Surfer, poet, film-maker and a musician

I think I discovered Jack Hody Johnson around three years ago, he was there on FM. I had no idea who the guy was, singing "I can't always be waiting, waiting on you". To be fair, it sounded like another of those break-up songs, poetical remonstrances which would in any other way sound harsh but was rendered seductively melodious here.

But the germ had been planted, I went back and searched Last.fm (please try it if you are a music freak, its AWESOME!) for Jack Johnson and found one gem after another. The quietly acoustic settings with Jack singing in his mellow voice paints a calm, blue Ocean. It was a very different dimension in contemporary music that I had discovered and have faithfully followed.

There's  no extravagance in terms of musical arrangement or lyrical poetry,  thats because I guess he wants his songs to be heard and the lyrics to be understood and digested. But above all, his songs are a reflection of the peace that he has within, a quiet place of Zen that he has discovered and from where his music flows to meet us wafting across the airwaves.

It,s weird that you can actually connect so deeply with another human being whom you have never met and probably never will, but it's his music that does all the talking to me. Of course, writing about it now is the only way that I can feebly try to reply.

I think he is an exceptional human-being in a lot of ways; he was a champion surfer by 18, a critically acclaimed documentary maker, a songwriter and a very successful musician. Finally its the fact that he is never into controversies or chasing that elusive byte of fame that completes his persona and makes him so likeable.

Album List:
Brushfire Fairytales
On and On
In Between Dreams
Sleep Through the Static
To the Sea

Some of my personal favourites:

Home
Good People
Constellations
If I had eyes
Enemy
Angel
A pirate looks on 40  (cover for Jimmy Buffet's original)
Upside Down
Broken
Plastic Jesus/Fall line
Rainbow
Cocoon
Better Together
Holes to heaven

P.S. I have always had this weird idea that Jack must be a really good cook, will ask him sometime when we meet ;)