Brushfire Fairytales

From its humble beginnings, Brushfire Fairytales
launched the meteoric career of singer/songwriter Jack
Johnson. It has sold over two million albums in the
US, and continues to be one of the best sellers in his
catalog. Now, the album returns home to Everloving, the
label that started it all, and has been remastered with
Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Jack Johnson: vocals, guitars, piano
Adam Topol: drums, percussion
Merlo Podlewski: bass
Ben Harper: slide guitar (appears courtesy of Virgin Records America)

Fans of Willy Porter, Ben Harper, and G. Love will all want to check out Jack Johnson's engaging folk- and blues-inflected pop. Born in Oahu, Hawaii, Johnson, a former surfer and film-school graduate, has a knack for acoustic ballads whose calm surfaces hide a subtle but strong lyrical undertow. "It seems to me that 'maybe' pretty much always means 'no,'" sings Johnson on "Flake," which features crony Harper on slide guitar. Production by J.P. Plunier (who also handles Harper's recordings) is simple and uncluttered: acoustic guitar and drum tracks share the foreground with Johnson's easygoing vocals, which evoke everyone from G. Love (who recorded Johnson's "Rodeo Clowns" on his Philadelphonic album) to Nick Drake to Willy Porter. And while Johnson may not have Porter's guitar chops, these songs have a relaxed beauty and understated depth that reward repeated listening. --Bill Forman