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When Donavon Frankenreiter was 10 years old, he got his first surfboard. Six years later, he picked up his first guitar. It was the beginning of a wildly creative journey: His improvisational twin obsessions have carried him around the globe and into his fans' hearts. As Frankenreiter prepares to release his fourth album, Glow, this fall, the 37-year-old singer/songwriter/pro surfer admits he still thrives on simply taking the plunge. "We don't have a set show, if we did, I would go crazy," he says. "You never know what's going to happen. I love that element of surprise with music and surfing — you never catch the same wave twice."

Growing up in southern California, Frankenreiter was drawn first to guitar gods like Clapton and Page, then to songwriters like Dylan and Marley. Ska-punk soundtracked his moves in surfing films, but his first high school band was so inspired by Pearl Jam, they named it Peanut Butter and Jam. His next outfit, a Southern rock group, scored a spot on the Warped Tour and was promptly pummeled with debris whenever their harmonies followed acts like Sick of It All. He continued to play rhythm guitar with a cover band, staying comfortably out of the spotlight, until one day something clicked: he needed to branch out on his own. 

Good pal Jack Johnson was starting up Brushfire Records, and offered Frankenreiter a shot, producing his first album of folk songs — including the hit "Free" — along with famed Beastie Boys collaborator Mario Caldato, Jr. Frankenreiter followed his 2004 self-titled debut with a full-band record, 2006's Move by Yourself (Lost Highway), where he plugged in and chronicled his life on the road. Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, My Morning Jacket) produced 2008 disc Pass It Around, which featured guests Ben Harper and G. Love, and marked a major musical turning point for Frankenreiter: "The first time I started working with other writers." He kept up the spirit of collaboration on 2010's Revisited, a track-by-track reinterpretation of his debut disc through a Hawaiian lens. After relocating to Kauai fulltime with his wife and sons Ozzy and Hendrix three years ago, Frankenreiter became enamored with the sounds of the islands. "It started off with ukulele and my voice and [guitarist] Kirk Smart added slack key guitar, lap steel, and everything else, and it just kind of grew from there," he says. "It's really neat to hear an alternative version of what happened seven years ago."

Big Wave

Donavon Frankenreiter

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