2001年1月Johnson的首张完整专辑《Brushfire Fairytales》在Enjoy Records发行，即是由专辑制作人J.P. Plunier与退休的A&R伙伴Andy Factor所自组的独立厂牌。《Brushfire Fairytales》从不同层级来检视都是一张亮眼的的首发专辑：从开场曲“Inaudible Melodies”将Johnson个人的生活哲学"Slow down everyone/You're moving too fast"转换成平易近人的副歌，到国歌般的“Flake”，《Brushfire Fairytales》让全美更多听众爱上Jack Johnson。为Ben Harper 2001年为期4个月的美/澳巡回担任暖场，《Brushfire Fairytales》在热情、重视音乐本质的Harper乐迷心中也像野火般延烧开来；直到秋季，Johnson偕同鼓手Adam Topol、贝斯手Merlo Podlewski才举办自己的演唱会(club shows)，座无虚席。专辑发行不到一年即卖出10万张，到了2003年1月已经突破白金销售。

Jack Johnson, the multi-talented American guy who likes to surf and play music, makes an honest impression on his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He's not focused on any genre in particular, but stays close to acoustic simplicities. Ben Harper's producer, J.P. Plunier, lends a hand and perfects Johnson's basic songwriting into a charming and inviting soundscape of songs most personal to Johnson. It's poetically abrasive, especially on tracks like "Sexy Plexi" and "Fortunate Fool," but Jack Johnson is a regular guy and his most natural feelings are indeed candid. "Inaudible Melodies" is a bluesy mix of lazy harmonies and acoustical twitching, whereas "Flake" is an easy flow of American trad rock, quite similar to Dave Matthews, but echoing steel drums and Harper's blistering lap steel guitar make for an outstanding rock & roll romp. Johnson's voice, which is hauntingly like Wes Cunningham, makes Brushfire Fairytales a decent record. He's not noisy or gregarious. He's content with his new creative finding. He might chase waves in his other life, but his songwriting ways do make for something quite charming.