You're the One & My Best Day

Stefan over at Zooglobble (without a doubt the most comprehensive source for kids' music coverage on the web) has begun a new series of guest posts with kids' music artists doing reviews of albums (kids' music or otherwise) that influenced them in some way. I've started off the series with a post about my favorite album of the last several years, Paul Simon's You're the One. Check it out here.

Also, I should mention that the purpose of this blog isn't to be a real source of kids' music news, especially as sites like Zooglobble and The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think are so much better about covering that kind of stuff. But I suppose I might mention when some of my favorite artists that I've already covered here have some significant news, or a new release that wasn't mentioned in my original feature. For example, Trout Fishing in America have a new live album out, called My Best Day. You can hear samples and purchase the album here.

The Wiggles

I can hear it now... "What? Are you serious? The Wiggles? Cool tunes for kids??? The Wiggles?????? Come on, Eric!!"

In a word... absolutely!

It's almost become tiresome for me to keep seeing references by other kids' artists dissing The Wiggles in some way or other, or promoting their music as if it's so much cooler and better than The Wiggles. In fact, I may have seen that exact phrase on someone's CDBaby blurb - "so much cooler and better than The Wiggles." But I honestly have to wonder if these people have actually listened to the Wiggles music. And in my opinion, those claims wouldn't hold up in many cases. The Wiggles do have great music and a huge body of memorable songs that would be difficult for any kids' artist to match.

I understand and agree that The Wiggles have some annoying elements of their whole package... the repetitiveness and limited humor in the interludes of their videos and shows (i.e. "Wake up, Jeff!"); the almost constant branding of their characters within their songs (at least every other song is about "wiggling" or "Wags the Dog" or "Dorothy the Dinosaur", etc.); and the absolute proliferation of their image and logo on toys everywhere. They're a slickly marketed sell-out machine, right? No, they're just hugely successful for what they do, and deservedly so. The rest of us could only hope to have a LeapPad game based on our music and an electronic toy guitar with our face on it. But let's not let envy or jealousy make us nasty toward them, eh?

I remember first hearing about The Wiggles in references to them being "The Beatles of children's music" and kind of pooh-poohing that idea. Certainly in terms of their immense popularity as a group of four guys, I couldn't disagree, but I resented that comparison in a musical sense. The Beatles created some of the greatest and most memorable pop/rock music ever. Let's not dare refer to these guys in that sense, I thought. So at first I was inclined to jump on the anti-Wiggle bandwagon and ready to think as I walked down the aisles at Walmart, "That should be me on that toy leafblower, not The Wiggles!" But the truth is that having since heard their music quite a lot (my daughters love them), I can even agree with that comparison in a musical sense.

Lyrically, no. They are not writing anything with any kind of depth, as far as the words go (nor should they, for their preschool audience). But then again, a lot of early Beatles songs were pretty insipid, lyrically speaking. And The Wiggles don't have the musical complexity of some of The Beatles work in terms of the chords and structure, but they do seem to have the same innate knack for creating (yes, they do write their own songs) almost instantly memorable hooks and grooves, and they come up with some really fun riffs for many of their songs (i.e. "Zardo Zap", "The Wiggles World"). For their target audience, they offer quite a wide range of rock, pop, folk and other styles. Who else is doing such a great variety of quality music for 2 and 3 year-olds?? I don't know if the band arranges all of their own music, but the arrangements are often terrific. The piano and trumpet of "Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep" is really well built-up, the lush arrangement on "Food Food Food" is quite beautiful, and they have some interesting guitar tones on songs like "Henry's Underwater Big Band". They even have some quite involved instrumentals, like "Officer Beaple's Dance" and "Let's Have a Ceili".

Some of their stuff is hit or miss, and it seems that the songs for some of their albums and videos were kind of 'cranked out', but some of their collections are really solid. I would recommend their Toot Toot or Wiggle Time videos as good examples of The Wiggles' best music and the different styles and arrangements they offer. I've also heard good things about their live concerts, which particularly feature the comedic and vocal talents of Paul Paddick (aka Captain Feathersword).

Here's a suggestion for the Wiggles dissers out there... Try imagining their songs with something else in place of the lyrics for songs like "Hot Potato" and "Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep", and tell me those wouldn't be considered the best of the best in kids' music songs. If Ralph or Justin or Trout Fishing had penned them with different lyrics and recorded them, everyone would be like, "Yeah, that's cool." The Wiggles have many great songs in that same sense. You just have to get past, or get used to, their ever-branding lyrics. And even the branding lyrics I can appreciate more than I used to... They've created a unique world for their very young audience, so why shouldn't they perpetuate that? And I have to remember that they are clearly not targeting kids older than about five, so I can't expect lyrics that are too difficult for most younger kids to pick up.

There's certainly no need for me to defend The Wiggles... They seem to be doing fairly well on their own (ahem). This is more of a call out to my colleagues to lay off of them. What sense would it have been for peers of The Beatles in the 60's to publically diss them because of their popularity? Yes, I know, some of you think The Wiggles don't have any actual talent, and therefore don't deserve their popularity, but I suggest you reconsider that and give them a fair listen, especially before announcing that to the world. It sure doesn't hurt them any, but it doesn't reflect well on you to say that and gives you a heck of a standard to have to match. Are you really so much cooler and better than The Wiggles? There are several million preschoolers the world over (and at least one 37 year-old) who you'll have to convince.

The Wiggles website

My thoughts on the departure of Greg Page from The Wiggles...

Reviews of the Getting Strong and Wiggly Wiggly World

John Lithgow

Yes, John Lithgow of stage, screen and TV screen is also a terrific children's music entertainer. He has released three kids' music albums; Farkle and Friends, Singin' in the Bathtub and the brand new The Sunny Side of the Street. I've heard and enjoyed some of Farkle and Friends but I'm most familiar with Singin' in the Bathtub, so I'll focus on that for this feature.

Singin' in the Bathtub is definitely one of my favorite albums of recent years, kids' music or otherwise. All but one of the songs on Bathtub are reworkings of older songs (Farkle includes more Lithgow originals), some of which were meant as kids' songs, and some which weren't but work well enough for that audience with Lithgow's performances.

The thing that seperates Lithgow's renditions from the many others who have covered some of the same material isn't so much the beautifully souped up big band and orchestral arrangements by Bill Elliott (though those are fantastic), but moreso the delivery of Lithgow. Often over-the-top in the best way, sometimes artfully reserved, and always entertaining to the kid inside me. Every now and again you'll run across an adult who seems to have a low tolerance for cartoonish voices, but a lot of kids love them. Lithgow's voice is definitely cartoonish at times on Bathtub, though always with character, which is probably an important distinction to make. His delivery of both the singing parts and animal sounds in "I Had a Rooster" is right up the alley of every giggle-prone preschool kid I've ever played for. He also has an effortlessly fun way with wordplay songs like "I'm a Gnu", "From the Indies to the Andies in His Undies" and "The Hippopotamus Song". His version of "Swingin' on a Star" may be my favorite of any I've heard, with extra points to Bill and the band for some hot playing on that one. Other highlights include the parody "You Gotta Have Skin", the amusingly twangy "Big Kids" (the one Lithgow original on Bathtub) and the gorgeous "Inchworm".

It's funny how my perception of John Lithgow changed so abruptly several years ago... I had seen him in a few films, usually either as the villain (Raising Cain, Cliffhanger) or as an offbeat crazy person (The Twilight Zone). I remember being thrown off by the initial promos for 3rd Rock from the Sun, featuring him in a zany comedy role. I thought, what an odd casting choice. But of course, once I started watching and loving the show, it was obvious that over-the-top zany comedy was right up his alley all along, and now my first thought of him is in terms of crazy comedy, and not as a crazy villain. There is no doubt that John Lithgow is one of the most talented and versatile entertainers of all time. He brings such a fun spirit to his children's albums, and it's a unique pleasure to be entertained by him through his music. I'm really looking forward to hearing his new album and enjoying what else he comes up with for kids (of all ages) in the future.

John Lithgow website

I haven't had a chance lately to add anything here, but my touring season is about to wind down somewhat for the fall and winter, so look for new posts coming soon including features on John Lithgow (yup, he does kids' music), Eddie Coker and Schoolhouse Rock, and an article about some of my experiences making decisions about what things are acceptable for inclusion in my original kids' music.

Roger Day

I was thrilled recently to see that one of my favorite kids' music artists, Roger Day, would be performing out in Kent, WA, not too far from where I'd be that same morning in Seattle. I think I can count on one hand the number of other kids' music performers who I've actually seen perform live. It often seems that even when I'm performing the same day at the same event as someone else that I'd like to see, that there is some conflict as far as where I need to be the next day, or something I need to take care of, which necessitates leaving too early to catch them. But this time it looked like it would work out. So I marked the calendar and got the directions ready for the park in Kent where Roger would be. As it turned out, though, I left from my show that morning later than expected, and we got caught in some nasty Seattle traffic (which was expected), and so we ended up missing the first half of Roger's show.

Regardless, what we saw was terrific. I had essentially seen Roger's show before from his live DVD, and I knew I would enjoy it, but I was particularly eager to have my girls see him as I knew they'd have a great time. They danced and sang and followed along with his many hand signals and had a lot of fun. I think Roger is one of the very best in this field, especially for the younger range of kids. His songs are instantly accessible and easy to learn and play along with (I defy anyone to listen to "Parachute Girl" and not have that refrain stuck in your head, in the best way), and he has a really strong and unique voice with a great delivery. He's also got a fun sense of humor, evident on songs like "Mosquito Burrito" and "Helicopter Harry". Though we missed some favorites of mine like "Mosquito Burrito" and "Open Up the Coconut", it was cool that we did catch two new songs from his upcoming CD. "Roly Poly" and "Elephunk" (or "Elefunk"... he's not sure yet how to spell it) are both fun songs in the great Roger Day vein. I thought we had missed his great rock anthem "Monster Face" but apparently he didn't perform it, having some difficulties with his wireless mic or something. So he had to play several songs with just guitar and a stage mic instead of with his supporting tracks, but it didn't matter, as he did just fine and kept everyone engaged throughout.

We had the chance to spend some time with Roger and his daughter Marjorie (the "Parachute Girl" herself) afterwards, and I really appreciated the opportunity to meet and talk with them for a while and share some of our experiences working in the kids' music field. If you have a chance to see a Roger Day show (or even just half a show), definitely make the effort. Or the next best thing, pick up his live DVD. And get ready to cook up some mosquito burritos... Yum!

Roger Day website












Review of Roger Day's Dream Big CD

Top 10 Best Things About Being a Kids' Music Artist

10. Endless supply of invisible and imaginary things to write songs about
9. At fairs and festivals, kids' performers get to cut to the front of the line for the bouncing castles
8. Kids don't really care if your vocals are a little 'pitchy'
7. Your supporting group of puppet characters isn't very likely to split up over 'creative differences'
6. You can say things in the studio like- "We need more reverb on that 'boing' sound!"
5. Sippy cups don't hurt very much if thrown onstage
4. When in doubt, you can always get a laugh with the word "doody"
3. There is less to fear about obsessive fans when they are only five years old
2. Kids' lower center of gravity provides better support when crowd surfing

And the #1 thing about being a kids' music artist is...

1. Audience members rarely come up and yell "Free Bird!"


Note: #4 comes from this article by Steve Charney at the Children's Music Portal.

How I got into kids' music... in more ways than one.

Life is full of many possible paths. It seems that a lot of people who currently do kids' music full-time didn't start off doing that at all, including Ralph's World, Dan Zanes and Justin Roberts. In fact, I wonder how many notable kids' music artists there are, if any, who chose right from the start to make that their focus. (??) I certainly never thought I'd be doing kids' music full-time, but I'm very happy it's turned out that way. Here's how it happened for me...

My background musically was playing for several years in bands on the Western New York music scene, most notably with Ember, a progressive rock 'n' roll trio (I preferred that term to 'progressive rock' because although we had the chops of prog bands like Rush and King Crimson we used them within more accessible rock 'n' roll songs that were more like The Who), and The Infydels, a very popular jam rock band (Dead, Phish, Allmans, etc.). Both bands had some success in the area and might have gone further but for the usual dysfunctional traits that tend to destroy most bands. I was just a temporary replacement in The Infydels for several months during some down time from Ember, and that band had several members, so I can't really be blamed for any of their dysfunction, but I was certainly a significant part of the Ember dysfunction. We were encouraged to tour more out of the Buffalo area, and we had some interest from labels including Polydor and some national press in magazines like Relix. But we never followed up on our opportunities for various reasons. It was disappointing when we finally split up, especially as I think our second CD would have been a killer within the genre, but in retrospect I was glad for a change. I ended up doing solo acoustic work and became a fixture on the regional acoustic scene for several years, sometimes performing with my friend Sideshow Jim in a "Simon and Garfunkel meets Weird Al" kind of act, and then after getting married in 2000 performing a lot as a duo with my wife Roseann singing harmonies.

But the coffeeshop scene kind of wore on after a while and I felt in a rut. I had been doing some live theater here and there on the side and ended up co-producing a musical I had written about my customer service day job. The show run ended up being very successful and very well received and it was a great experience to be a part of, but although there was interest to continue working on the show to have it produced elsewhere, and although I had already written most of another musical, I just didn't feel the energy or impetus to get behind that kind of thing again by the time the production was over.

In the meantime, while the musical production was getting underway, there were a few different and completely unrelated plugs by people encouraging me to do music for kids. One was my brother-in-law, who is a gym teacher at an elementary school. He had seen several acts come in to do assemblies and said something to the effect that I could do that as well and probably make a decent living at it. There were also people at some of my coffeeshop shows who would bring their kids along, and they noticed that even though I typically wasn't playing anything kid-related (a mix of original singer/songwriter material and various covers), when kids were in the crowd I felt compelled to try to keep them entertained as well, performing something that I happened to know that they might appreciate (The Peanuts theme, "If I Only Had a Brain", "Scooby Doo", etc.). They noticed how well the kids responded and some commented that I should do some performing particularly for kids.

It was also around that time my wife and I came across... quite by accident... the website of children's music performer Eddie Coker (he'll be featured here soon) and noticed that he seemed to have an interesting kind of job. We ended up calling him and he graciously talked to us for quite a while about his life and work, and he encouraged me to consider doing it myself.

Being someone who has always believed in the phenomenon of 'synchronicity' (and a fan of both Police songs by that name), I took this convergent encouragement about performing for kids as a sign that I should look into the idea. It didn't hurt that my wife Roseann had expressed an interest in working on creative projects for kids when we had first met. She hadn't really pressed me to do anything like that since, always being supportive of whatever I was working on, but once I expressed a possible interest in doing kids' music she was all for that.

So we decided to give it a try, and it was at this time that I did my heretofore mentioned Buffalo library kids' music CD and video search. I really had no idea what anyone was doing in terms of kids' music and never really listened to "kids' music" as a kid, other than the odd thing like Schoolhouse Rock (also to be featured here soon), and so it was enlightening to see and hear so many different things within the genre and to sort of 'discover' kids' music for the first time (as a 33 year old!). Of course, in the last few years with the "kindie rock explosion" there have been even more different things represented (some of which I hope to catch up with here eventually), but even waaaaay back in 2002 there was quite a diversity of kids' music available.

The coolest thing was to realize that I didn't necessarily have to play xylophones and write sing-songy nursery rhyme tunes... I could do just about whatever I wanted musically, within reason, as long as the lyrics either reflected or spoke to a kid's sensibility. In fact, this was particularly exciting for me because it meant that I could really explore a very wide range of musical approaches and sounds and styles and they could all equally co-exist on the same album and fit within the overreaching genre of "children's music". In the past, it was sometimes hard to have too many songs with divergent approaches on the same album and still label the package in a succinct way to work as "singer/songwriter" or "progressive rock" or whatever.

From everything I heard and liked, I learned a basic set list of kids' songs, and Roseann and I accidentally wrote "The Elephant Song" (the 'accidentally' of that is explained here), and decided to see how a little concert for kids might work out. I scheduled a Saturday afternoon at one of the coffeeshops where I regularly played and invited a few friends and family to bring their kids. There ended up being about a dozen kids there, ranging from about 2-10 in age. I played through my set list and it generally went very well. I instantly felt what a joy it is to entertain an audience of children and what a great audience they could be (something I'm going to elaborate on in a future post). And I also learned some important things right away, mainly that you have to keep kids engaged and involved at every turn. I only had a few songs that weren't participatory in some way, but by the end of some of those songs I had essentially lost the kids' attention. The most pleasant surprise was how much they liked "The Elephant Song". I honestly had no idea when we created that whether kids would like it and play along with it or whether they would just think I was an idiot. But they really responded well to that, and we didn't even realize the extent of that until I tried it again at a day care where a much larger group of kids went absolutely berserk during that song.

So for the next few months I played at more day cares and I did a school assembly, which was another great learning experience, and we worked on more songs for an album, The Kid in the Mirror, which came out in November of 2003. Again, I wasn't sure what the reaction would be to the album. I thought some kids might like some songs and some others, and that parents might tolerate it okay, but I didn't know if it would really work as an album. Thankfully, the reaction was incredibly positive. There were some standout favorites, including "The Elephant Song" and "There's a Monster in My House", but many people told me that their kids were playing the whole album from start to finish over and over again and knew every song by heart. And the parents said that they were so glad to have something that they didn't mind listening to along with their kids. The album quickly became a better seller than any of the other CDs I had been a part of and I thought, hmmm, maybe I should keep doing this kids' music thing. :o)

At this point, I have to acknowledge the enormous contribution of my wife, Roseann, to my current career choice. How many struggling musicians' wives would encourage them to quit their full-time day job... you know, with the regular paycheck, medical benefits, 401K... and pursue music full-time? She believed in me more than I did in myself and that was a tremendous buoy to my spirit at the time when we made that decision in 2004. And she was right... I'm much happier doing this than I was pushing paperwork around at my last job, and though it's been a tremendous amount of work we're now making more than I did at that last job, which is really cool. It definitely helps that Roseann is a great support to what I do in many respects, having a background in early childhood development, television and stage production, experience working alongside professional musical acts, and a great overall artistic ear and eye. We love each other very much and really enjoy working together and travelling together with our family, which certainly makes it all so much better.

Another thing that helped me to quit the old day job and follow my wife's encouragement to make kids' music my career was reading the following quote by Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I'm not usually so swayed by 'motivational quotes', but that one hit me at just the right time and I really felt the spirit of it inspire me. And the fact that the coffeeshop that I was still playing at most regularly was called The Comfort Zone wasn't lost on me in that moment. I knew I had to leave my comfort zone and throw off the bowlines if I wanted to be happier and more successful in my life. It wasn't that I was unhappy, by any means... I had the best job I had ever had up to that point and a wonderful wife and baby daughter, and I really enjoyed the different music and theatre projects I'd been able to be involved with... but in an overreaching sense I felt very unfulfilled, particularly to be spending 8-10 hours every day not working on music in some way. And I think most people who make music for a living know that it is next to impossible to get that train rolling while also riding another train full-time.

What I've produced and how I perform for kids has changed somewhat since those early days, and I may elaborate more on how and why those changes came about in future posts, but that was how it all started for me. I'm exploring, dreaming and discovering like never before, and I'm very glad that things fell into place the way they did and that I listened and followed up with the encouragement I was getting to pursue this path. Sing it, Sting- "With one breath, with one flow, you will know... synchronicity."

Sesame Street

I've actually seen Sesame Street listed in some articles by people complaining about certain kids' music that they find trite or annoying, and I'm always baffled by that. To me, Sesame Street is some of the coolest kids' music. I used to watch the show when I was little, and I don't remember it much from then, but I've now rediscovered its brilliance through watching the show with my two daughters.

Musically, the Sesame Street songs (mostly by Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss) are of a musical theatre nature, but in the very best sense of being hummable, humorous and mostly upbeat. If you watch the show day in and day out, there might be some blah songs here and there, but many of them are great, and if you watch or listen to a "best of" collection with Sesame Street songs it's a truly incredible list of memorable tunes; "C is for Cookie", "Sing" (made more famous by the Carpenters, but it was a Sesame Street original), "Rubber Duckie", "Doin' the Pigeon", "I Love Trash", "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon", "Monster in the Mirror", "Put Down the Duckie", "What's the Name of that Song", "I Dance Myself to Sleep", "It Ain't Easy Bein' Green" and of course the theme song itself. And yes, I even love "Elmo's Song", which is a very funny gimmick put into a very catchy song. There are also many clever "style parodies" and direct parodies on Sesame Street, including "Can You Count it Higher" and "Telly's Lunch". There are also many great musical moments on the show with guest stars like Andrea Bocelli, Paul Simon, James Taylor, B.B. King, etc.

So if you're somehow writing off Sesame Street as annoying kids' music, but haven't seen it in a while and think their musical output equals Elmo's daily "Jingle Bells" rephrasings (which are kind of annoying), I suggest you give it another chance. Watch the 25th anniversary special, which includes a lot of the above songs, or pick up the box set, which includes those songs and a lot more. Very cool stuff, indeed, and still one of the best things going in kids' music.

Sesame Street website

Jim Gill

For me, Jim Gill's music falls somewhat into the description from my "rules" post where I said that adults don't necessarily have to like a certain kind of kids' music for it to be good kids' music. But it's not that I don't like Jim's music... quite the opposite, I love it... it's more that the nature of it isn't something that I'm likely to listen to on my own in my car, for the sake of the music alone. And for some parents, that might cause them to steer away from Jim's music, and that would be a shame, because it's exactly the kind that kids really love the most... catchy, humorous songs that are highly participatory. Actually, to call Jim's songs merely 'participatory' is almost selling them short... Virtually every song of his includes and invites participation, much moreso than anyone else I've heard.

I think every kids' musician who performs live shows knows that you need to keep kids involved at almost every turn, and so we have to be creative sometimes to find ways to play certain of our songs live and involve the audience. Sometimes that means just clapping or dancing along, and other times there is something more unique involved. But Jim Gill doesn't even have to worry about that, because all of his songs involve participation right from the songs themselves. Listen to songs of his like "Silly Dance Contest", "Face the Fact", "Drumming the House", "Hands are for Clapping" and you'll know exactly what I mean.

Musically, Jim's music is folky and quirky with some Cajun and bluegrass elements, and he talks more than sings his words. It's not something that's likely to appeal to Gen X parents so much, but younger kids will surely love it and have a really great time playing along.

Jim Gill website

Music Submissions

(Submissions are currently CLOSED)

If you are a kids' music artist and you'd like me to hear your music and consider it for a feature here, please go ahead and send me what you've got (see the address below). Advance or burned copies are fine, but please include some kind of liner notes for advance copies, or a link to a webpage with the lyrics and liner notes, if possible. Pages of press releases in big packages are not needed. Save yourself the extra postage. The address is - (submissions are currently closed)

I have to reiterate what I said on my first post, that I cannot guarantee that any particular thing will be featured here, nor offer any time frame for that. Once again, this is not a review site, but purely something from my own perspective and interest and I'm only likely to post about things that really stand out to me in some way or other, or that I feel particularly compelled to write about. And that is going to be very unique to my tastes... Sometimes I read rave reviews on other sites and go to listen to the samples and think, eh, it doesn't sound that great to me... and vice versa, where I love something that someone else wasn't crazy about. But that's just the nature of subjective artistic taste.

But I really do enjoy hearing all kinds of different kids' music and checking out what other people are up to. And I am very much about looking for the good in things, so please feel free to send me what you've got, and if your music is something that I particularly like or can appreciate in some unique way, then I'll certainly try my best to feature it here at some point.

Note: If you send me music of yours, I will consider that your permission is granted for me to add two or three short sound samples (usually 30-60 seconds each) to the article about you (if one is posted); to grab a picture of you from your website to use with the post; and to embed a video of yours if there is an embeddable video of yours somewhere like YouTube or MySpace. If any of that is a problem in any way, please let me know and I'll do whatever I can to accommodate your wishes or the requirements of your publishing company. I will only be using tracks that are originals from the artist featured or which are reworkings of traditional songs in the public domain.

If you quote something from here, please attribute it as "-Eric Herman, CoolTunesForKids.com", with the active link (unless it's for a flyer, in which case it would be hard to make an active link!). Also, I don't mind if you cut pieces without using an ellipse or parenthesis, as long as the meaning isn't changed. For example, if I say, "Joe Schmoe's CD is really great and I enjoyed it while eating my baloney sandwich yesterday. It's a fun album for the whole family." You can remove the part about the baloney sandwich (which you probably should) and quote that like this, "Joe Schmoe's CD is really great and it's a fun album for the whole family." You don't need the ... in the middle of that. Also, if I say, "It's a fun album for the whole family" and I'm referring to your CD called The Fun Album for the Whole Family, then you can quote it as - "The Fun Album for the Whole Family is a fun album for the whole family." You don't need to add parenthesis, as in "(The Fun Album for the Whole Family) is a fun album for the whole family." Now, using the parenthesis may be the proper journalistic etiquette for that kind of situation, but I'm giving you permission to not have to do that if you're quoting something from here.

If you have any questions about any of this stuff, please feel free to ask.

Very best,
Eric Herman

"Cool tunes for kids" in Seattle

For those of you with kids in the Seattle area (or without kids, but fans of kids' music... hey, why not??)... come and see Eric Herman and the Invisible Band! We'll be doing several shows in and around the greater Seattle area over the next few weeks, including a number of libraries and "summer concert series" events. The show is a lot of fun, with many great participatory songs and much comedy throughout. On my recent trip performing at libraries in Oregon and Northern California, several people told me (or told their librarians, who told me) that it was the best show they'd seen at their library. I know you'll have a really good time and be glad you came, so please come out if you're in the area.

All shows are FREE! Please contact the libraries ahead of time, though, as you may need to sign up in advance in order to attend. Here's the schedule:

07/25/06 Oak Harbor Library, Oak Harbor, 1 and 3 pm
07/26/06 Coupeville Library, Coupeville, 1 pm
07/27/06 University Library, Seattle, 10 am
07/27/06 Bitter Lake Comm. Center, 13035 Linden Ave N, Seattle, 2 pm
07/28/06 High Point Library, Seattle, 10:30 am
08/01/06 Lunchtime Music Series, Hamlin Park, Shoreline, 12 pm
08/02/06 Auburn Kid's Summer Sounds, Les Gove Park, Auburn, 12 pm
08/03/06 Kent Summer Concerts, West Fenwick Park, Kent, 12 pm
08/05/06 Third Place Commons, Lake Forest Park, 10:30 am
08/07/06 Causey's Learning Center, 525 23rd Ave., Seattle, 10 am
08/08/06 Sammamish Concerts, Beaver Lake Park, Sammamish, 12 pm
08/08/06 Wallingford Library, Seattle, 7 pm
08/09/06 Madrona Branch Library, Seattle, 10 am
08/10/06 New Holly Library, Seattle, 10:30 am
08/11/06 Learning Way Childcare, 9202 21st Ave. SW, Seattle, 10 am
08/15/06 Everett Concert Series, Legion Park, Everett, 12 pm
08/16/06 Kirkland Summer Concert Series, Mariana Park, Kirkland, 10 am
08/17/06 Picnic Pizzazz, Kiwanis Park, Renton, 12 pm
08/19/06 Central Seattle Public Library, Seattle, 2 pm


Eric Herman website

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.