Ralph's World

Ralph's World is another of the kids' artists that really jumped to the top of the heap in my now oft-mentioned Buffalo library search. Ralph has this great "sort of gravelly" voice and can really sing (for some reason, it seems as though a lot of kids' performers aren't really the best vocalists... not that they need to be, necessarily, but it's especially nice when they are), and I found myself listening all the way through to his albums, which wasn't often the case with everything else.

I have many 'favorite' Ralph's World songs, including "The Name Song" (which I do an adapted version of at some of my concerts), "You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd", "Say Hi to the Animals", "Boy Who Cried Wolf Sheepishly" and "Barnyard Blues". And I love his whole latest album, Green Gorilla, Monster and Me, which was nominated for a Grammy. He has always had a great Beatle-esque sense of melody and memorability, which is evident on tracks like "Hideaway", but I especially like that he's added a bit of edge to his usual folk-rock sound on songs like "Dance Around the Room" and "I Don't Wanna".

Ralph just signed with Disney Records, so there's no question he's doing really well and very deservedly so.

Ralph's World website

Click here for my interview with Ralph.