BeachLife Ranch 2023 is now in the history books. The three-day festival in Redondo Beach is billed as celebrating the cowboy surfer way of life. A Country and Americana music festival that’s held on the beach. With two full-sized main stages, Highlands on artificial turf, and Lowlands directly on the beach, along with two smaller semi-enclosed areas, there was plenty of music to be heard everywhere on the festival grounds.

Even though the event was pretty much country themed, from the graphics and signage to the selling of legit cowboy hats, the music and artists transcended that genre, as did the audience. The audience could also choose to experience the music any way they felt. The Highlands and Lowlands performances were staggered, so as not to have the cacophony of artists playing at the same time. But if you chose to stay on the beach during a Highlands set, giant video screens would show you the performance going on while the live music was easily heard. And vice versa with Lowlands.

Day One highlights were many and varied.

Early in the overcast day Goodnight, Texas took the Lowlands stage. This five-piece folk-rock band takes its name from the midpoint between the two frontmen’s homes of San Francisco, CA and Chapel Hill, NC. Rounding out the band were Scott Padden on drums, Adam Nash on lead guitar, pedal steel, violin, and Chris Sugiura on bass. This is a band that knows how to deliver on many levels, so much so, their newest single, “Runaways,” features Kirk Hammett of Metallica. (No, Kirk did not guest appear.)

Leaving the sand and heading over to the Highlands stage, it was time to check out Pillbox Patti. This Florida native, (real name: Nicolette Hayford) is now Nashville-based and was originally a songwriter who moved to the stage only recently. The Pillbox Patti persona was created to distinguish the artist from the songwriter. Her music is a different kind of country, she steers into the tougher part of life. She does it with passion and as she told the audience more than once, a drink in her hand. What was she drinking, who knows? But her performance that included songs like, “Young and Stupid” and “Eat Pray Drugs,” showed everyone she’s out to make a statement and is a performer to watch out for.

Back to the sand and to Rome. Rome Ramirez, that is. Teaming up with Duddy to form the side project, Rome & Duddy, they were the first act to really bring the beach to Beachlife Ranch. The reggae-flavored band did their obligatory ode to weed with “Cannabis Tree,” but they also remembered the other part of the audience with a Willie Nelson cover of “Roll Me Up.” Of course, that too is a pot tribute.

It's not often that one gets to witness world records getting broken in a concert setting, but that’s exactly what happened next on the Highland stage. Devon Allman and Donavon Frankenreiter set a record for fastest time to play a concert in each of the 50 states, completing the feat in a just 49 days. The plan had always been to end it at BeachLife. (Frankenreiter happens to be a surfer as well as a part owner of BeachLife Festival.) So as tired as they might have been spending just nine hours in Hawaii before getting on a plane to California for the final show, they brought the energy in a big way. Allman is a beast on guitar playing his white Gibson SG with fire and passion. He sings the same way and traded lead vocal duties with Frankenreiter. It was fun set that could have gone on much longer. The reality about festivals like this is that the bands have hard outs with truncated sets. On the other hand, the audience gets to see things they might never see again. Like Donavon and Devon getting a guitar each from Gibson and framed records for their record-breaking journey.

Next up: Shakey Graves out of Austin, Texas. Alejandro Rose-Garcia is another performer who has adopted a stage name and his background as a professional actor came through as he hit the giant Highlands stage all by his lonesome. Shakey Graves has some stage presence. But musical talent explodes from his fingers and his feet. As he finger-picked his hollow body guitar, a stomping kickdrum followed. Then he started to sing. The man can do it all, combining country, blues, folk, and rock and roll. He was also the first performer to truly take advantage of the catwalk that reached into the Highlands audience. (Pillbox Patti and Devon Allman only came out about halfway.) He was joined by a backing band wearing matching black jumpsuits, but make no mistake: This was the Shakey Graves show.

As the sun went down, the lights went up on the Lowlands stage for The Avett Brothers. Hailing from North Carolina and led by brothers Scott and Seth, the band filled out the stage in an impressively. In addition to the namesake Avetts, Bob Crawford on bass, Joe Kwon on cello, Mike Marsh on drums, Tania Elizabeth on violin, and Bonnie Avett-Rini on piano. They line up five across, letting the audience get a good looking at the violin and cello action of which there was plenty. It also gave space for easily viewed banjo and violin duels between Scott Avett and Tania Elizabeth.

Then, there was Jack. Even though it was a strong Day One line up, throughout the day you could hear people in the crowd saying, “I’m here for Jack.” or “I flew all the way just for Jack.” That Jack is of course, Jack Johnson, Day One’s headliner who closes out the show on the Highlands stage. Johnson without a doubt brought the Beach to BeachLife. Armed with just his acoustic guitar and wearing a zip up hoodie, he was still able to command the huge stage with just his voice, his playing, and of course, his words. It’s what he does. He has a power all his own that comes not from movement or attitude, but from nuance. A tilt of the head, a slight smile. His audience knows when to look for these things and they love it when they find them.

But Johnson also loves to share the stage and this being a festival setting, there were plenty of artists and friends to join him. Throughout the 21-song set, Johnson brought many of the day’s players and stars on stage to join him.  Donavon Frankenreiter, The Avett Brothers, Afie Jurvanen (frontman for Bahamas) came out during the set for a song or two, with everyone coming back out for a singalong finale of “Better Together.” With those acts joining Johnson, and the audience singing along, it felt like Johnson transcended the notion solo artist at least for this evening.