This is no way to start a discussion about manhood. We—Jack Johnson and me—are in a PT Cruiser. A sparkling, aquamarine, convertible PT Cruiser. We are driving through Burbank, California, on a cloudless 70-degree day in early March, and everyone on the road is wearing oversize shades. Still, even with the top up I can feel them staring as we wind westward toward the Ventura Freeway en route to the Los Angeles offices of Brushfire Records, Johnson's label. At a red light, two younger guys in a pickup give our ride the once-over, then grimace. If only they knew we were about to dive deep into a discussion of masculine energy.

It's Robert Bly's fault. I had been told before coming to Southern California that Johnson's new album, To the Sea, was heavily influenced by the poet and author, specifically Bly's 1990 bestseller, Iron John: A Book About Men. The book uses the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Iron John" to explain the unfortunate state of the American man, who Bly says is indecisive, overly gentle, and sad. The "Iron John" tale, to massively simplify, is about a boy prince who frees a Wild Man (a.k.a. Iron John) caged in the royal castle and flees with him into the forest to be guided through a series of trials. As Bly sees it, modern men desperately need this kind of mentoring...