"It's a nice life," Johnson said in a telephone interview from his home in Hawaii, where he was born and raised.

Before he made music for a living, the singer/songwriter traveled the world, following and filming the world's best surfers for documentaries - also not a bad life. "When the music thing came, I wasn't thinking, 'This is my way out of my dishwashing job' or anything," he said.

Johnson says his family always supported him; his father surfed and his mother taught him to boogie board. They allowed his punk band to practice in his bedroom and never complained when he switched from being a math major in college to filmmaking. Later, his wife taught school while he made surf films. He hasn't always been successful, and he's worked harder than he lets on.

"There's that moment when you're just barely making it and you wonder, should I scrap this for a real job?" he said. "When the opportunities open up and you can make a living at it, it's incredible."

Johnson is not the only surfer on this tour: Both his opening acts, G Love & Special Sauce and Donavon Frankenreiter, are surfers, too (Johnson also produced Frankenreiter's new album). Johnson credits them, as well as Adam Topol, his percussionist, and the single-named Merlo, who plays bass, with inspiring him to incorporate far-flung musical styles into his own work. "All of them are really talented but really, if we didn't have guitars around, we'd just surf," he said, laughing.

Johnson began playing acoustic guitar as a way to entertain at barbecue singalongs and later scored his surfing films with his mellow, contemplative music.

Though his music might seem the quintessential hang-around soundtrack, Johnson's lyrics are often dark or cynical, the result, he says, of the striking difference between his own idyllic life and what he sees when he turns on the television news.

In "The News," a song on his first solo album, "Brushfire Fairytales," he addresses humanity's lack of empathy, partly by asking why newscasters don't cry when they read tragic news aloud.

"A billion people died on the news tonight/But not so many cried at the terrible sight," he sings. It's a metaphor. "It would be kind of annoying if the newscasters would cry every time they talked about something negative. It's more about a little kid trying to understand how people could grow to be so desensitized."

He is also amused by how television packages the news, with each tragedy requiring its own theme music. "It becomes kind of this thing - is it going to be ominous or patriotic? What kind of war are we going to have?"

"Brushfire Fairytales" and Johnson's second album, "On and On," garnered him widespread radio play and a sturdy fan base.

Johnson, who helped found an environmental charity, recently became more overtly political by signing on to Vote for Change, a concert tour this fall by some of music's biggest names that aims to oust the sitting president.

For Johnson, it was a last-minute decision, based largely on George W. Bush's environmental policies and the Iraq war. "I don't want to tell people, this is what to believe," he said. "I just want to say, This is what I believe in. I'm really concerned with the way this past administration has been running things."

His lighthearted songs, like "Wasting Time" and "Bubble Toes," are "just songs trying to make my wife laugh," he said. He's also writing a new album to be released next year, and music for the upcoming "Curious George" movie, partly inspired by his young son. "I'm going to be, in a way, the voice of Curious George, because he doesn't talk. It's perfect timing 'cause all I do right now is sit around writing songs trying to make my kid laugh."

A nice life, indeed.

Surf's up at Usana

* Jack Johnson will perform with G Love & Special Sauce and Donavon Frankenreiter on Thursday at the Usana Amphitheater. The show starts at 7; doors open at 5.

* Tickets are $35, available at Smithstix, http://www.smithstix.com, or by calling (800) 888-TIXX.