Pre-Fruit Bats In the late 1990’s, Johnson fronted an indie-rock band called I Rowboat. In early 2000, he became a member of the experimental folk-rock group
Califone. It was on tour with Califone that he befriended the members of
Modest Mouse and The Shins, who took an interest in Fruit Bats and made an introduction to the record label
Sub Pop.
Fruit Bats (2001-2013 hiatus) Fruit Bats signed to Sub Pop in 2002 and became part of the label's early 2000s folk-rock boom. They would go on to record four records on the label. They played at festivals such as
Sasquatch Festival,
Bonnaroo Music Festival, and
Le Guess Who, and made TV appearances on
Last Call with Carson Daly and
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Fruit Bats' 2003 song "When U Love Somebody" was featured in the film
Youth in Revolt, and has been covered by bands such as
The Decemberists, Said the Whale, and Guster. In November 2013, Johnson announced he would be dissolving Fruit Bats. They played what was to be their farewell show at the
Aladdin Theater in
Portland, Oregon on November 16, 2013.
Fruit Bats (reformation in 2015-present) In 2014, Johnson released an album under the name EDJ. The subsequent release was not a commercial success, and was later described by Johnson as a “career stalling move.” In 2015, My Morning Jacket invited Johnson to open a tour with his EDJ project, and instead Johnson opted to re-form Fruit Bats to do the tour. This led to the album
Absolute Loser, which featured the popular single “Humbug Mountain Song.” In 2018, Fruit Bats signed to
Merge Records and the following year released their seventh studio album
Gold Past Life, of which Variety wrote, “there won’t be many albums in 2019 with as many quotable, cut-to-the-marrow lines as this one has.” In 2020, they released
The Pet Parade, which was recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic with producer (and Johnson’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmate)
Josh Kaufman. That same year, Johnson recorded a full-album cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ 1993 album
Siamese Dream. In early 2021, Fruit Bats made their first network television performance since 2009, performing on
Late Night With Seth Meyers.
The Shins (2006-2011) Johnson joined
The Shins in late 2006, after joining the band in the studio for their third studio album,
Wincing the Night Away (2007). He was a member of the band until 2011, and made appearances on
Saturday Night Live,
The Tonight Show, and
Late Night With Conan O’Brien. Johnson left the band in 2011 due to scheduling conflicts with
Fruit Bats, and went on to appear on several tracks on their fourth studio album,
Port of Morrow. Johnson briefly reappeared with the band for their set at the Bonnaroo Festival in June 2012.
Bonny Light Horseman The band first came together at the
Eaux Claires festival in 2018 when invited by the festivals co-founders
Justin Vernon (of
Bon Iver) and
Aaron Dessner (of
The National). From the early sessions for this performance, the trio decided to form the band in a more official capacity. Their self-titled debut album was released on January 25, 2020. The album contains a mixture of traditional British folk songs and original material. It was subsequently nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Folk Album as well as the
Grammy Award for Best American Roots Performance for the track "Deep in Love." The album was awarded Best Americana Record at the 2021
Libera Awards and was also nominated for the
Libera Award for Best Breakthrough Artist. The group's sophomore album,
Rolling Golden Holy, was released in October 2022. Singles "California" and "Summer Dream" were released in advance of the album. Unlike the group's debut,
Rolling Golden Holy comprises all original material.
Film work In 2010 Johnson was hired to score Max Winkler's comedy
Ceremony, starring
Uma Thurman and
Michael Angarano. Later that year he worked on director
Jesse Peretz’s feature
Our Idiot Brother, starring
Paul Rudd, which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in 2011. Johnson co-scored the film with
Nathan Larson, and also wrote and produced three original songs for the soundtrack, as well as contributing a cover of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree." In 2013 Johnson collaborated with
Vetiver front man
Andy Cabic on scores for two critically lauded Sundance features - one for the dramedy
Smashed and the other for the documentary
After Tiller. In 2012 Johnson collaborated with Andy Cabic of
Vetiver on the music for the critically lauded Sundance feature
Smashed, a score which landed on the
Academy Awards’ shortlist for that year. In 2016 Johnson scored director Rod Blackhurst’s feature debut
Here Alone, which won the
Tribeca Film Festival’s audience award. The following year saw Johnson scoring the comedy feature
Spivak for Netflix. Johnson has occasionally appeared as an actor, most notably a cameo as a Grateful Dead cover band member in
Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2014 drama
Wild. He also provided voices for various characters in the cartoon pilot
E Coli High which premiered on
IFC Selects, as well as the voiceover for
TurboTax’s Super Bowl Ad in 2021.
Live appearances and festival production In 2010 Johnson founded the
Huichica Music Festival along with Jeff Bundschu, owner of
Gundlach Bundschu winery. The festival is held on the grounds of Gundlach Bundschu winery in Sonoma, California. Produced and curated by Johnson, the festival has frequently featured not only sets from Fruit Bats, but also acts such as
Jonathan Wilson,
Hand Habits,
Robyn Hitchcock,
Lee Fields,
Real Estate,
Love,
Shannon and the Clams,
Silver Apples,
Tara Jane O'Neil,
Bob Weir, and many more. Johnson stopped working with the festival in 2020. In November 2012 at
San Francisco’s
Warfield Theatre, Johnson performed
Van Morrison’s songs from
The Last Waltz in a recreation of
The Band’s 1976 farewell concert of the same name. He reprised this role for several subsequent appearances at The Capitol Theater in
Port Chester, NY. In 2018, Johnson curated and produced a set at
Newport Folk Festival called
Beneath the Sacred Mountain: A Cosmic American Revue with support from The Spacebomb House Band,
Phil Cook,
Josh Kaufman,
Matthew E. White,
James Mercer (
The Shins),
The Watson Twins,
Laura Veirs,
Hiss Golden Messenger,
Bedouine, and
Lucius. In 2019, Johnson appeared as part of Newport Folk Festival’s
If I Had a Song covers set, performing Crosby Stills and Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” along with
Robin Pecknold of
Fleet Foxes,
James Mercer of
The Shins, and
Judy Collins. A longtime
Deadhead, Johnson has appeared several times as a guest on several
Grateful Dead related projects. In August 2019 he joined
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead for several songs at Los Angeles’
Greek Theatre, he joined JRAD for several songs in July 2021 at their
Westville Music Bowl concert in New Haven, Connecticut. In October 2023, Fruit Bats opened for JRAD, with all members of JRAD backing him, at the
Frost Amphitheater on the campus of
Stanford University and at Los Angeles’
Greek Theatre. He also sat in during the main JRAD set on several songs during both aforementioned concerts. Previously, in October 2021, he played three shows with the original bass player of the Grateful Dead,
Phil Lesh, at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York as part of
Phil Lesh and Friends. ==Personal life==