Jack Johnson covers:
Jimmy Buffett, The White Stripes, Lennon, Dylan, Sublime & more!
January 13th, 2013 — 02:06 pm
Though he hasn’t released a studio album since 2010, Hawaiian “soft rock” singer-songwriter Jack Johnson has been an unquestionable darling of the last decade, topping the college charts with catchy, easy-going folkpop lullabies, and winning praise for his work organizing the jam and surf communities through music and political action. And the odds are good that you’re familiar with at least some of his work; after all, his soundtrack for the 2006 film Curious George garnered two Grammy nominations, and became the first soundtrack for an animated film to top the Billboard 200 since Pocahontas; his matter-of-fact take on Dylan’s Mama You’ve Been On My Mind alongside other luminaries from across the genre spectrum on the I’m Not There soundtrack the following year was a standout in the mix.
In the annals of popular music, Johnson is often associated with the fratrock and jamband crowds, thanks in part to his top-rate cred as an ex-competitor and documentarian of the world of professional surfing, early gigs alongside Dave Matthews and Ben Harper, and ongoing collaboration with acoustic hip-hop performer G. Love. The influences he claims run a wide gamut, from Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix to Radiohead, Neil Young, A Tribe Called Quest, and Bob Marley; echoes of their various elements permeate his songwriting even as the campfire sentiment he brings to his playing transforms that soul into intimacy.
But it’s easy, too, to make a case for his work as central to the post-millennial elevation of indie folk rock into the mainstream. Typified by bouncy, danceable strum patters which echo the hawaiian music and culture of his early years as a surfer and beach bum, the stories which Johnson brings to life are vivid portraiture. His warm voice, centrally acoustic guitarwork, and tender, easy-going sing-song treatment of often sensitive subjects from ecology to homelessness put him squarely in the folk camp. And his promotion of other singer-songwriters via his homegrown label Brushfire Records has helped raise consciousness of several fellow-minded artists with clear folk influences, such as Matt Costa, Neil Halstead, Mason Jennings, and Zee Avi (and sure enough, we’ve got a full set of covers from those labelmates and mentees as a bonus set below to follow Johnson’s own).
In live performance, our subject is prone to further consciousness-raising through activist song, and to medleys which combine his own social justice anthem Fall Line with the songs of others – you’ll find a pair of such hybrid halfcovers here. But those familiar with Jack Johnson only as a peripheral pop radio presence and surf-culture champion will find his larger canon of coverage to be equally glorious, an apt entry into the deeper catalog of his work. He’s taken on many of his peers and influences, and with a few more playful exceptions, like his originals, his covers trend towards the gentle, almost sentimental. Personal favorites include the sweet childlike chant and tinkly piano Johnson brings to Jack White’s We’re Going To Be Friends, and his gently rocking, drone-driven take on Jimmy Buffett’s nostalgic A Pirate Looks At Forty, which I find aptly bittersweet and beautiful, a prototypical combination of oceanic theme and intimate, pensive heart that typifies the best of Jack Johnson’s work. Since I turn forty myself tomorrow, we’ll start there, adrift at sea.
- Jack Johnson: A Pirate Looks At Forty (orig. Jimmy Buffett) [2004]
- Jack Johnson: Imagine (orig. John Lennon) [2007]
- Jack Johnson: We’re Going To be Friends (orig. White Stripes) [2006]
- Jack Johnson: My Doorbell (orig. White Stripes) [2006]
- Jack Johnson: Mama You’ve Been On My Mind (orig. Bob Dylan) [2007]
- Jack Johnson: Badfish/Boss DJ (orig. Sublime) [2005]
- Jack Johnson: The 3 R’s (orig. Bob Dorough) [2004]
- Jack Johnson w/ G. Love: Holiday (orig. Madonna) [200?]
- Jack Johnson: I Shall be Released (orig. Dylan/The Band) [2007]
- Jack Johnson: Frankie and Albert (trad.) [2002]
- Jack Johnson: Fall Line / Where Do The Children Play (orig. Jack Johnson / Cat Stevens) [2004]
- Jack Johnson: Plastic Jesus / Fall Line (orig. The Goldcoast Singers / Jack Johnson) [2003]
As promised, our bonus tracks today comprise a full set of coverage from a few of our favorite Brushfire Records recording artists.
- Zee Avi: Dream A Little Dream Of Me (orig. Ozzie Nelson) [2009]
- Zee Avi: Tomorrow Is A Long Time (orig. Bob Dylan) [2012]
- Matt Costa: Suicide Is Painless (M.A.S.H. theme) [2005]
- Matt Costa: Darling Be Home Soon (orig. The Loving Spoonful) [2004]
- G. Love w/ The Avett Brothers: 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (orig. Paul Simon) [2011]
- Neil Halstead and Slowdive: Cloudbusting (orig. Kate Bush) [2010]
- Mason Jennings: Oh Susannah (trad.) [2006]
- Mason Jennings: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (orig. Bob Dylan) [2007]
- Rogue Wave: Maps (orig. Yeah Yeah Yeahs) [2009]
- Rogue Wave: On A Plain (orig. Nirvana) [200?]
- Rogue Wave: I’ll Never Grow Tired Of You (orig. Patty Loveless) [2005]
2 comments » | Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings, Matt Costa, Rogue Wave, Zee Avi