Fellow surfing buddy and musical collaborator, G. Love and his Special Sauce crew, will accompany Johnson and band October 10-13 and 18.

While Johnson is rapidly becoming a familiar face on MTV and in the music press, it wasn’t that long ago that he was just another surfer, making surf films and strumming his guitar when the swells weren’t so good.

“I could trace everything back to surfing, all the nice things that have happened,” Johnson told POLLSTAR. That includes a friendship with Ben Harper’s manager, J.P. Plunier.

“J.P., he’s just a surfer, so he and I knew each other for a long time,” he said. “When I used to make the surf films, he would come in and sit in the editing bay with me.

“He didn’t know I did music for, like, the first year I knew him. I finally gave him a little four-track tape. We started talking about trying to start a label that I could put it out on.”

And just like that, Johnson moved from making surf films to making music.

After supporting Harper in spring of 2001, Johnson branched out and began to headline his own outings. Ben Lee and the Mason Jennings Band took turns supporting Johnson as he packed out clubs across the States.

For his upcoming venture, Johnson is making the leap from clubs to theatres – a testament to his increasing popularity. Fame has its problems, though. While on tour in Australia this month, Johnson’s gear was lifted while he was performing an in-store gig on the Gold Coast. According to reports, the band’s van was broken into and the entire contents stolen: four laptops, cameras, clothing, passports, money – everything.

At least he has his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales, to help him along.