SouthFlorida.com | City Link Magazine

In an interview on the road in Texas, Donavon Frankenreiter, a surfer, singer-songwriter and guitarist from Laguna Beach, Calif., sounds like the happiest man on earth. Who wouldn't be happy about a life that has fallen into place so perfectly?

He started surfing at age 10 and, three years later, got a sponsorship from Billabong. At 16, he headed to Hawaii for a few months, and surfer Jack Johnson's mom rented him a room in their house, which is directly in front of the Pipeline, North Shore's famous surfing mecca.

"It was just awesome," Frankenreiter says. "After meeting Jack, we ended up playing music together and surfing. I remember that whole winter was just a lot of fun. We would surf as much as we possibly could, and then, we'd get out of the water and end up playing music nonstop."

At 32, Frankenreiter now has a family -- wife Petra and 2-year-old son Hendrix -- but surfing and music are still at the core of his life. Last year, he released his self-titled CD debut on Brushfire Records, the label established by his old friend Johnson, who had also turned musician. Frankenreiter also opened for Johnson and G. Love on a tour that included dates with Dave Matthews. Now, he's touring as a headliner. After playing the Langerado Music Festival in Sunrise this weekend, he'll be off to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. He also still gets paid to surf in places like Africa, Japan and Fiji, all of which he'll visit later this year.

Frankenreiter makes a living doing what he feels passionately about. Except for a few months spent working for his dad's crating company hitting pounds of nails and breathing sawdust while building crates, palettes and skids, his life has always been that way. "During that summer," he says, "I realized that I'd better get good at surfing, because I don't like this."

Since the age of 16, he has been featured in surf films, including Taylor Steele's Hit and Run in 2000, and has worked closely with the surf filmmaker. Rather than compete, Frankenreiter travels, makes movies and goes on photo shoots. "I kind of consider it more like the exploratory side of surfing," he says. "I really have a good time going and finding places that have never been surfed before."

Frankenreiter also started his first band, Peanut Butter and Jam, while in high school. Then, he played rhythm guitar for 10 years with Sunchild, a rock band that opened for Willie Nelson, Ben Harper and Social Distortion. But after a decade, he felt frustrated.

"I was tired of doing three sets a night and cover songs," he says. "Nobody wanted to hear songs we wrote. They wanted to hear 'Sweet Home Alabama' and 'Brown-Eyed Girl.' After a while, I was like, 'Look, I'm making a living surfing. I never wanted to make a living playing other people's songs.' "

So he left Sunchild and started doing his own thing on Wednesday nights in a Laguna Beach bar. In two years, he had enough songs for a CD. When he heard that his old surfing buddy Johnson, already a master of funky folk tunes, had started a label, he sent him a demo. Soon after, he headed to Hawaii to record at Johnson's Mango Tree studio with Johnson and engineer-producer Mario Caldato Jr., who has worked with The Beastie Boys and Beck. His wife, also a surfer, and their son came along, too.

There was no pressure, he says, and no one yelling, "Hey, c'mon, I don't hear a hit!" Instead, they surfed, hung out on the beach and jammed. When they were done, there was a record.

The song conjures images of the guys on the beach, strumming and singing for other wave-spent surfers sitting around a fire. This is strictly feel-good music. Don't look for religion or politics here. Frankenreiter likes to keep it simple, allowing his music to be inspired by what moves him. His folky songs sound similar, as do lyrics that seem to come from a calm place and titles like "Day Dreamer" and "Butterfly." "On My Mind," the first song he ever wrote, is a love song for his wife. "Call Me Papa" was inspired by her pregnancy and the birth of their son.

Frankenreiter's family comes on the road with him as much as possible. His son is following in his footsteps. "He loves the water," Frankenreiter says, "and being out here on the road, too. He loves banging on the drums and singing on the mike. … Hanging out with my family really brings me the most enjoyment ever."

Family, surfing and music are his life. "When I'm by myself surfing, it's like those are the moments when everything in the world just seems to stop, like I don't have any problems. … I get the same feeling when I play music, but music is an international language," he explains. "Surfing is one of those things you really can't share with people. You don't want to be on the same wave with 15 other people, you know.

"I've been pleasantly surprised on this tour how many people have actually showed up to all these gigs," he says. "And that's really what it's all about, sharing the music and sharing the evenings with people. They're the ones who really set the mood and set the tone of what's gonna happen throughout the night, and they've just been coming out and having a great time with us."

For Frankenreiter, this whole tour is about raising money for a bus. Being a surfer, he says, he has always wondered if he would have time to drive through America's heartland. He says, "Music has taken me to places that surfing never would."

Donavon Frankenreiter will perform 1:15 p.m. Sunday on the Sunset Stage at the Langerado Music Festival.