"In between ping-pong matches, we laid down a few tracks," says surfer/singer Jack Johnson, of the stress-free three weeks he spent in Hawaii recording his second album, On and On, due in March. The album is the follow-up to his gold-certified breakthrough, Brushfire Fairytales.

"We did it all over there in my garage," he says. "We'd record for five or six hours, cruise down to the beach, then record for a couple more hours."

Without veering from Johnson's successful formula -- where his voice is accompanied simply by his acoustic guitar, a bass, drums and occasional percussion -- producer Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys) helped the band find a perfect tone. "We'd listen to Al Green records to get ideas for miking the drums," says Johnson. "And I turned him on to Nick Drake's whispery vocals."

Among On and On's standout cuts are "Traffic in the Sky," a song Johnson began in Brooklyn one month before 9/11 that contains eerie foreshadowing. Johnson says "The Horizon's Been Defeated" is about "oil rigs making the water all oily." The sound of waves in the background on the album's closer, "Symbol in My Driveway," confirm that the song was recorded on the beach. Says Johnson, "We recorded it on my brother's porch during a barbecue."

AUSTIN SCAGGS
(January 24, 2003)