Jack Johnson rose to popularity as something of a Renaissance man in the early days of the twenty-first century. A professional surfer, independent film maker and laid back singer songwriter, Johnson hails from Hawaii with an aw-shucks grin and shoeless approach to love, life and music. Jack Johnson comes across as the guy who has the life every guy wants to live, but we're not so lucky.
Like Jimmy Buffett and James Taylor before him, his songs have a lilting breezy quality belying their quiet sophistication. And also like those artists, his rather narrow range results in a body of work so consistent his albums tend to blend together.
This constant casual groove makes In Between Dreams such a delightful pleasure. Johnson ruminates on domestic bliss with a keen eye for the details that bring his characters and settings to vivid life. The sense of domesticity in a tropical paradise bubbles up over and over again. The natural world pervades every tune and time runs slow.
The quietly acoustic settings and mid tempo tunes really give the sense of a bunch of friends in a circle playing for their own pleasure. The musicianship sounds both casual and sophisticated simultaneously just as Johnson's nimble phrasing owes a debt to hip hop wordplay more than traditional rock and roll. In fact, he does make music with the same circle of buddies - G. Love, Matt Costa and Donavon Frankenreiter among others, touring together, appearing on their albums and vice versa.
He sings about family from a sweet place and it seems no surprise that he followed this album up with the soundtrack to the Curious George animated movie. I love the sense of joy and the calming spirit of these hip sing-alongs and they have served as the soundtrack to many of my family vacations. The first scrapes of his guitar strings from Better Together literally put me in a peaceful state and his ruminations on his love ring true.
The remaining songs flow from the same waters. Moderate tempos, pretty melodies with interesting rhythms and sweet stories (or pleas for a sweeter world than the one in which we live) breeze into each other until the last song drifts off into the breeze. It all sounds easy and I can't help but think this guy despite having it all, still sounds humble, singing straight from his great big heart.
I can truly relate to these little homey stories. Jack was born in mid-May, I was born in mid-May. Jack married his college sweetheart, Kim and I married my college sweetheart, Kim. Jack has three kids and I have three kids. Jack and I have are exactly the same, give or take the rock star / surfer / film maker thing.
Like Buffett and Taylor (and I, for that matter), it has become clear that Jack Johnson will not garner much respect as a great artist. His music is too cozy and his range too narrow despite his efforts to stretch out on later works. He offers none of the typical rock star drama and danger so present in our manufactured popular culture, continuing to live in Hawaii with his wife and kids and focusing on his work and environmentalist charity. Of course taking care of his family and making the world a better place for them doesn't seem like such a bad life after all.
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