Buck Howdy is unique in the children's music world. Yes, there have been some good country-music styled kids' acts coming out in recent years, including Little Nashville, Farmer Jason and the Bummkin Band, but there hasn't really been a notable old-fashioned cowboy personality like Buck... at least not that I'm aware of.
Buck is nothing if not personality, and his aw shucks friendly uncle from Tennesee kind of voice pulls you right in and holds you captive throughout his CDs. It's a delivery that seems effortless in its charm but also sounds like the genuine article of a man who has spent many years rustling, wrangling, roping and other such things that cowboys do. I get the impression that Buck could tell a story about sorting coupons that would keep kids totally enthralled around a crackling campfire.
Speaking of campfires, Buck pays homage to some classic campfire fare with two of the songs on his second kids' album, Giddyup!, released in 2005. The CD opens with "S'mores", a fine fiddle-y ditty (see the video below), and the fourth track is "Baked Beans", which may be the best flatulence-related song ever (I propose a championship fight between that song and John Hadfield's "I Like Beans"). In "Baked Beans" you can just about hear Buck smiling and holding back his own laughter as he sings, and it really conveys the feeling that he's having as much fun performing the song as we are hearing it.
On the bouncy title track, Buck sings some cleverly silly lines like "I was going to a dance and I had to practice. Why oh why did I do it with a cactus?" and he gives a fun lesson for chasing the blues away by singing like animals on "Baa, Neigh, Cock-a-Doodle Doo". Giddyup! also features some prominent guest performers including Trout Fishing in America's Keith and Ezra providing backing vocals on "S'mores" and "Giddyup" and Laurie Berkner singing beautifully along with Buck on "Happy Trails". There is also one of the best parodies I've heard on a kids' album listed as the bonus track, but I don't know that I can give it away being that it's titled "Bonus Track". I really should have seen the chorus line coming, but it still made me laugh out loud when I first heard it.
Giddyup! was the first Buck Howdy album I'd heard (he also released Skidaddle! in 2002) and I was instantly a big fan. Buck released the follow-up, Chickens, last year, and in addition to more great songs, he also added a fine singer to his act (BB, pictured above). Chickens has a lot of what might be called "Western swing", with an almost jazzy feel to a number of the tracks. There's still a predominance of country to the sound, but there's a bounciness and arrangement to some of the tracks that emphasizes the "swing" as much as the "Western".
Chickens also has a lot of chickens. "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" is a winner and is so heavy on the swing that you might have expected Glenn Miller to have orchestrated it. The title track is a little bit unfortunate, though... It plays with expectations where it sounds like it's about a philandering husband but really he's just a farmer who loves taking care of his chickens. It's a clever turnaround and it's the type of innuendo that kids aren't going to get anyway, so it's no big deal in that sense. But the thing is, it's not a great subject for adults, either, with lines like "I buy ‘em food and give ‘em drinks, along with lots of lovin'. Then those girls lay out the treats by the dozens." Using distasteful imagery as some kind of metaphor or correlation still includes the distasteful imagery on the surface. So the song is enjoyable but for me it left a little bit of a bad taste in terms of the subject matter. Rounding out the chicken-related material on the album is the instrumental bonus track. You can probably guess what it is by my mention of "instrumental" and "chicken-related".
There are a lot of other great tracks on Chickens, including "Wiggle, Waggle, Wave", a super-swingy ode to friendly greetings; "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda", a catchy, easy-going tune about doing things you're supposed to do before you regret the consequences; "I'm My Own Grandpa", Buck's engaging version of the old novelty hit about the ultimate family paradox; and "I Can't Imagine", a sweet ballad duet which really shows the complement of Buck and BB's voices.
Chickens was nominated for a Grammy last year and shows an interesting change from the more straightforward old-time country feel of his earlier albums, perhaps making it more accessible to a wider audience. With his great delivery and sense of humor, I'm intrigued to see what kind of yarns Buck will spin next around the campfire.
My wife, Roseann, did the animations for a new video in a Schoolhouse Rock kind of style and it turned out really nice. It's for the song "My Lucky Day" from my Snow Day! album. The song was co-written with children's artist Eric Ode.
Please add your comments and if you liked it enough to rate it 5 stars, let me know and I'll send you a link for a free MP3 download of the song. Here's the link to the YouTube page where you can comment or rate the video, or you can just watch it below...
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Coming up, I'll be doing features on Mr. Richard, Ira Marlowe, Dog on Fleas, Johnette Downing, Debi Derryberry and a few other things that have come in recently. I'm having trouble keeping up with everything, though, so I can't promise when those things will be covered.
I'm actually thinking of closing the submissions for a while... especially as I'll be on the road for about 4 months straight starting the end of March and won't be able to get anything that comes in the mail, anyway. I'll still be keeping up on what's coming out in the kids' music world through Zooglobble and CDBaby and elsewhere, and if there's something I'm interested in hearing more of, I may request a promo copy to be sent wherever I am. But as of March, I don't want any new CDs sent when there's no chance I'll get to hear them for several months, and as I'll have enough of a backlog to get caught up on in the meantime. I'll make a post about that and change the "Submissions" page when the time comes... As for now, though, please feel free to keep sending new releases and I'll look forward to checking them out on the road this spring and summer.
For a long time, my appreciation for Gustafer Yellowgold hadn't really been sparked, in the same sense as I described for Frances England's music... I had read a lot of glowing accolades but had only heard a few brief samples, and thought, "It sounds okay..." But I hadn't been blown away enough to get really excited about it. In the case of Frances England, it just took one listen through the actual album, beyond just brief samples, to have her infectious and brilliant songs imprinted on me. With Gustafer Yellowgold, all it took was a viewing of one of his DVDs. To use terms usually reserved for the world of magic and sorcery, I was utterly enchanted, spellbound, mesmerized and charmed.
Gustafer Yellowgold is the cute cartoon creation of singer/songwriter Morgan Taylor, who writes and records Gustafer's musical musings and also illustrates and provides the storyboard direction for the DVD animations. There are two Gustafer DVDs, Wide Wild World and Have You Never Been Yellow? (for which he gets a half point off for parodying the title of an Olivia Newton-John album). Gustafer comes from the sun, as the introduction song ("Cooler World") on both DVDs describes, and has traveled to Minnesota, where things are apparently quite different than on the sun (he was aiming for somewhere a little colder). The songs and videos, full of wit and whimsy, relate Gustafer's experiences and wonderment with various things he discovers in his new Earth life, and so we share the same wonderment through the simple but clever animations and generally mellow but engaging songs. The subjects can be a rather odd assortment, including pinecones, mustard slugs, eels, cake, cheese and beards, and there isn't really any narrative or theme connecting everything, other than Gustafer observing and commenting on his new world. But every song/video is its own little amusement, and they each work terrifically in that sense.
In terms of influences for the general idea and animation style of Gustafer, one might guess that Morgan Taylor has probably watched Harry Nilsson's classic animated story, The Point, once or twice (or fifty times). In that story, a round-headed boy named Oblio finds himself in a world where every other creature and object must have a point (literally, as in a pointy head or a particularly pointy nose). Being that Gustafer is the odd one on Earth, I imagine that Gustafer's rather pointy head might be an homage to that show. Regardless, Gustafer is very much an original and the combination of classic storybook illustration and animation almost has more of the feel of Ken Burns' pan-and-scan documentaries, with objects gently and creatively moving around each other. This is clearly 2D animation, but there is very nice use of object layering and every animation choice is used to great effect.
Musically speaking, the Gustafer songs seem to be happily ensconced in 60's/70's acoustic melancholy, hearkening to Harry Nilsson, James Taylor (presumably no relation) and The Beatles circa The White Album and Yellow Submarine. While the production and sound is clearly from that era, the songs themselves are true originals, with hooks and chord turns that aren't overt, but reach out and tickle you enough to keep your interest throughout. Morgan's voice is often double-tracked into a sweet syrup, and his delivery and tone is akin to both Neil Young's plaintive acoustic singing and Billy Corgan's whispery breathings. Personal taste leans my ears toward the former, and not so much the latter, so I prefer the Gustafer songs (or parts of songs) where Morgan sings out fully, like on the transcendent anthem, "Pinecone Lovely" (video below). But regardless, Morgan has a beautiful sense of contrast between the different songs and song sections, in terms of varying his vocal delivery to fit the needs of the moment.
Would the songs alone stand up, without having ever seen the animations? For adults, yes, but I don't think they would work as well for kids without having any connection at all to the imagery. But the Gustafer package is clearly meant to be a fusion of songs and images (and his live shows always feature the animations on a video screen), and kids and adults alike can certainly appreciate the combination as intended, in a very big way. Stephen Sondheim is often criticized for not having any "take home" songs from his musicals ("Send in the Clowns" being the notable exception), but his songs are meant to work perfectly within the context of their shows. That is their primary working environment. I think the same can be said for the Gustafer songs working best along with the environment of their video accompaniment. However, having seen the video several times, kids will definitely have a big attachment to the songs and can thereafter enjoy them strictly from the CDs (which are included with the DVDs).
The Gustafer DVDs have been big hits for my girls, who request them often along with their other video favorites like the Pixar movies and The Wiggles. My 5 year-old, Becca, has even given Gustafer the rare honor of a space in her dreams. Every night, as part of their bedtime routine, our girls like us to ask them what they're going to dream about. (Apparently, they're really into "directed dreaming".) Well, there have been a few nights recently where Becca specified "Gustafer" as her dream choice. A budding artist and animator, herself, she has also stated that she wished she had created Gustafer (heheh... Me, too!).
In addition to the Gustafer videos and music, Morgan Taylor also provided a few songs for a nice compilation of children's music by the ArtsCetera organization, called Sing, Shout & Clap. Click here for song samples and to order the CD.
My daughter, Becca, has always been very artistically inclined, and recently she has wanted to learn about doing animation like she sees on her favorite TV shows and movies. We found a cool program called Flip Boom that is meant for kids to easily create simple animations. She took to that program in a big way and when we asked if she might like to do a music video for Daddy she was very excited and went right to work.
So anyway, here is a video for "Dance Like an Animal", with animations by Becca. She had a little bit of help and direction from her Mommy (who also did the disco background and put everything together with me in the video editing program), but by and large, this is Becca's work. Give her another year or two and she might be working for Pixar. :o)
Speaking of kids' music animations, coming up soon I'll be featuring one of Becca's favorite animation influences... Gustafer Yellowgold.
If you've followed this blog at all, you'll know that I am an unabashed fan of The Wiggles. Musically speaking, I think they're terrific, with many great songs that introduce young kids to a variety of music styles. Say what you will about them otherwise, but they can really deliver the goods when it comes to their songs being memorable and fun for younger children, and I believe that they have rightfully achieved their enormous success as children's entertainers.
The Wiggles have always primarily been a visual band, what with the colored shirt thing and all, and so they have usually emphasized video releases over CD releases. Their latest is a DVD called Getting Strong, which is unique in two ways; it is the first from a planned Wiggle and Learn series that has a particularly educational focus, and it is also the first with the new yellow Wiggle, Sam.
I'm not going to speak too much about the video's merits... I want to focus on the music... but it definitely has the best production values of any Wiggles video I've seen. Top notch effects and sets and it looks really sharp, which hasn't always been the case with other Wiggles videos (not that they've suffered for it, but you kind of expect more from them, considering their success). Some of the between song skits, such as the recurring theme of Captain Feathersword pretending to be among a group of trumpeters or guitarists or ballet dancers are okay and some are a bit tedious. Paul Paddock (Captain F.) has an amazing vocal range and ability to do impressions, but the high-pitched squeals of his guitar impressions (I honestly don't know how he gets up there without helium) can wear a bit on the ears of adults. But that's nothing new for Wiggles videos... their skits and between song interludes have never been the greatest at appealing to adults, no doubt. But little kids laugh at them and enjoy them alright, so that's fine.
Educationally speaking, they are clearly targeting toddlers (their bread and butter audience) with subjects that include exercise and sports ("Getting Strong", "The Sporting Salsa"), comparative use of language ("The Biggest of All") and the five senses ("The Five Sense" and the oddly infectious "Smell Your Way Through the Day"). Perhaps it is the educational theme, but it seems that the songs have much more of a "sing songy" feel to them than previous Wiggles collections. They're not bad, as sing-songy songs go, but a lot of my favorite Wiggles songs have a little bit of rock 'n' roll to them and for the most part, these tunes don't really go there. Notable exceptions include the great title track, which is reminiscent of The Who's "I Can See for Miles and Miles", and "Sporting Salsa", which has a cool sound with a bit of a Miami Sound Machine groove to the chorus. "Smell Your Way Through the Day" has a rock feel to it and is very catchy, but it's also kind of kooky in a way.
So I'm not sure if Getting Strong is likely to convince any of the adults who grumble about the Wiggles to realize that they do have a lot of great music (see my review below about Wiggly Wiggly World for an example of that), but it's a solid collection for the kids and answers any doubts as to whether Sam could make a good replacement for the ailing Greg. Greg always had a really smooth and unique vocal delivery, and thankfully Sam doesn't try to emulate that, but offers his own voice, which is more polished and even somewhat operatic at times, but is still a really good fit for the group's music.
In my original feature on The Wiggles, I said how their various video collections were kind of hit-and-miss for me. They've put out quite a few by now, and so as we've borrowed different ones from the library, we've seen some that were top notch and had a lot of great songs and others that seemed kind of thrown together. Until this past summer, we had only owned two Wiggles videos that we particularly liked, but I gave Wiggly Wiggly World a blind chance when I saw it at a library sale for a few bucks. I'm glad I did, because I think it's a terrific collection of songs, and it's particularly nice if you don't like the aforementioned skits and interludes, because they go right from one song to another, only stopping briefly to introduce a guest performer to set up the next song. And though The Wiggles can hold their own, musically, and in terms of songwriting, as evidenced by the hooks on songs like "In the Wiggles World" and "In the Big Red Car We Like to Ride", the guest performers really add a lot to this particular video.
Opera singer Kamahl performs on "Sing With Me", and it's amusing to hear his thick, profundo voice singing lines that include "Dorothy the Dinosaur", but it's quite a beautiful song, regardless. In terms of catchy pop-rock melodies and hooks, you can't beat The Wiggles' version of "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" by Tim Finn of Crowded House and Split Enz. And the gorgeous ballad "Taba Naba", performed by Greg and Christine Anu, is particularly stunning, and I love to hear my 2 year-old, Evee, attempting to sing that one. It's all in the language of the Torres Strait Islanders, and here are the real words: "Taba naba, naba norem, tugi penai siri, dinghy e naba we". As you can imagine, it comes out quite different when Evee sings it! There's also Rolf Harris playing the wobbleboard along with his classic "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" and Australian country star Slim Dusty joining in for "I Love to Have a Dance with Dorothy".
Other highlights on the video include "Another Cuppa", which has one of the best uses of counterpoint I've heard outside of musical theater, the folky "One Little Coyote", with it's cute backing vocals ("come home shooooon"), and the pretty Japanese ballad "Haru Ga Kita", sung with Atsuko Arai. All together, Wiggly Wiggly World is quite a smorgasbord of multi-cultural music, but it all sounds great with The Wiggles renditions and arrangements.
The organ is an instrument that can run the gamut from sounding really cool (think Booker T or Greg Allman or Ray Charles) to sounding really cheesy (think soap opera music or anything played on a cheap Casio). I suppose most instruments can be cool or cheesy, depending on how they're played or what kind of music they're played with, but it's much harder to not look cool, at least, when playing something like an electric guitar or a saxophone. Then again, some musicians like Ray Manzarek could make even the cheesiest sounding soap opera organ be cool in its context on the Doors' records. Weighing in on the very cool end of organ playing is Chris Wiser, one half of the duo that comprises the Sugar Free Allstars, who have released their first kids' album, Dos Niños.
It's an unusual mix, to be sure, with the core sound consisting of organ, another organ, bass and drums (by Rob "Dr. Rock" Martin). I'm not sure how they pull it off... I'm pretty sure from the picture that Wiser only has two hands, though he might have a couple of mutant arms hidden around his back... but it sounds fantastic, regardless.
It's a short album, with only eight songs, but they're all good to great tracks and show off a surprising variety and a lot of musical depth. "Bathtub Boy" starts things off with a discordant organ chord that is offset nicely by a very active vocal melody and some cute lyric lines like, "I'd rather soak in the tub 'til my skins gets so pruney, and all of my friends, thinkin' that I'm loony". "He's Okay (The Spider Song)" has a very Doorsy riff in the verses and then has a Soundgarden/Nirvana chorus. It's cool to hear that kind of thing done so well with organ as opposed to the usual grungy guitar. There's also a fun envelope filter solo that evokes images of a spider slinking along a wall.
Next up is "Poppy and MeeMaw", which has a funky Allman Brothers meets Sly and the Family Stone groove and a very catchy chorus, a la Anthony Keidis, where Wiser rhymes "MeeMaw" and "seesaw" with what else, but "Hee-Haw". "Petting Zoo" has that Supertrampy (er, maybe "Supertramp-esque" would be better) Wurlizter electric organ sound (also think of "My Best Friend" by Queen) and accordingly continues with a thick 70's feel throughout, complete with a cheesy jazz chord ending. The tune has a great transition between the verses and choruses and like the other tracks is very memorable.
"P. Kitty" (live video below) is a super funky tune which would probably be at home on a Chili Peppers or Funkadelic record (who says funk bands can't play children's music?). Again, some of the organ chords are of a weirdly dissonant variety, so the music might sound a little strange on its own, but the vocal line is greatly accessible and it all works very well together. "Banana Pudding" is practically a Deep Purple style parody, with Dr. Rock dispensing some funky drum medicine and Wiser rockin' on the thick Hammond.
"Stinky" is a one-word instrumental that isn't nearly as memorable or fun sounding as something like "Tequila", but the word choice of "stinky" is the perfect choice for a kids thing (and, of course, a whole lot better than "tequila"). The CD ends with the track, "Buck Up, Little Camper", which is a marked departure from the rest of the album into Monty Python territory, a la "The Universe Song" or "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". It's obviously campy and tongue-in-cheek with its "don't sweat the small stuff" message, and I'm guessing that the cruel irony for the band is that this is probably one of the most popular songs with kids and parents, because of its simple, cheery message. The folky piano style melds into a big band ending, where Wiser does a Louis Armstrong impression, which ends up sounding more like an impression of Bill Cosby doing an impression of Louis Armstrong. Fun stuff.
A quick side note about the album cover, which is strange and disturbing... the kind of thing that you wouldn't want to get in the mail unless you knew all of your kids were home and accounted for, and even then, you'd probably want to notify the police and have them dust the envelope for prints. I don't quite know what to make of it, but whatever... All in all, this is an awesome album, though I suspect it may have some of the same effect as The Sippy Cups' Electric Storyland, where it's really great for adults but not necessarily quite as great for kids, depending on the kid. My kids' musician blogging friend Yosi mentioned on his blog about how he tried to get his kids to love this album but they just said, "It's weird." He felt like they really should like it and that he should maybe even try to force them to like it, as if it is akin to the cod liver oil your mother used to give you when you were sick (well, maybe your mother did, but thankfully mine didn't)... You don't want to take it, but it's good for you, so just swallow it, already!
I think that's a faulty premise, because although we can certainly try to encourage an appreciation for music to our kids, I don't think we can ever really instill an appreciation for particular music to them. And even if they grow to appreciate a certain kind of music, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll ever really love it. For example, I had no interest in my father's kind of music (big band, Sinatra, etc.) when I was growing up, and though I can appreciate it now and enjoy a lot of those classic tunes, it's still not what I would remotely consider my favorite kind of music. People like what they like, and though some of the uber-hipster parents may groan at the oh so horrible taste of three year-old kids, I suspect that many of them would still choose things like The Wiggles or Barney over The Sippy Cups and Sugar Free All Stars in a blind taste test. It's just a matter of kids' sensibilities.
That being said, my girls like this album okay, and dance around a little bit when it's on, but we do have to encourage them to do so and they're not listening closely, so we have to explain how it's a funny song about a kid who takes baths, or about a petting zoo, etc. There's not an automatic or instinctive feeling that it's meant for them when they hear the music, which I think is much more of the case with artists like Ralph's World and Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang. And if I had to put my finger on one thing that might help or hurt when trying to achieve that, it would be how prominent the vocals are in the mix. They seem to be mixed a bit low on this album and Wiser's vocal melodies are often very active, so if a kid can't understand the words well enough to tell that a song is talking about something they might care about, then they're probably not as likely to have a really big connection with it.
But even if your kids might think that this album is weird, it's a really cool album, regardless, and it would certainly be worth trying out on them. If they don't like it now, wait a year or two and maybe they'll enjoy it then. And like Electric Storyland, even though I can't share it quite as well with my kids as some other CDs, Dos Niños has definitely gone into my list of personal favorites.
Ah, there's nothing quite like the purest form of kids' music, meaning music that kids' themselves create. It's strange and bizarre and sometimes totally nonsensical, but also brilliant and creative in cool ways.
Two years ago for Halloween, my Becca wrote this song: "Halloween Green Bean" (mp3) Her mommy helped her just a little bit with the phrasing for one of the lyric lines, and I arranged the music, but it was essentially very much her own creation.
In case you can't quite understand the lyrics, here they are:
I wanna be a Halloween green bean. I wanna be a Halloween bear. I wanna be a Halloween monster, so I can give you a scare. Boo!
Not bad for a three year-old. :o) Becca is five now and she's written a few other songs, including a melodic epic called "The Sun Goes Up", which has some beautiful lyric verses balanced by some really kooky lyric verses...
The sun goes up, and the moon goes down. The stars go down and the dark goes down. The apple says, "Hi". And we eat the apple. There's a freckle on my arm. There's a freckle on my leg. Etc.
I totally didn't see the apple/freckle lines coming. And that's kind of how it is with all of her songs... Wonderfully weird, with some unexpected turns. She's also been noodling a lot on the piano and coming up with several little riffs that she likes to play over and over. She has descriptions for each of them, too, like the spooky sounding one, which is apparently supposed to be the soundtrack for a movie she wants to make about circlemonsters. And her sister, Evee, is following right along in her path, banging away on the piano and drums and belting out her favorite songs.
People often ask me if my material is inspired by my kids... Certainly, some of it is, but before long I might be able to just have them create all of my material, themselves!
Pictured above... Evee and Becca with their pumpkins for this year, which they designed themselves (we did the carving).
With Halloween coming up, I thought I should gather all of the Halloween themed kids' CDs I've received since starting this blog and do a collective plug for them. Then I realized, um, wait a minute... I've only received one Halloween CD that I can recall. So that means that M. Ryan Taylor's Thirteen for Halloween gets all the attention, and deservedly so, because it's quite a nice collection of spooky Halloween tunes.
There have been a number of good Halloween songs by many different kids' artists, including Ralph's World, Monty Harper, The Hipwaders, etc. (here's a list that Stefan from Zooglobble and Bill from Spare the Rock compiled last year), and a great compilation CD could certainly be made from them. But many of those songs, fun as they are, are really just the same kind of pop/rock/folk as their creators' normal work, with a bit of spookiness or Halloween flavor added on top. And that's certainly to be expected, and the same thing would probably be said for my song, "The Cruelest Lullaby", a Halloween themed lullaby which is available as a bonus download from my Snail's Pace CD.
But what I love about M. Ryan Taylor's Thirteen for Halloween CD is that it is really its own thing, and it has a perfect sense of the creepy kind of atmosphere that really screams (and shrieks) Halloween. Of course, Halloween can encompass the goofy and funny as well as the genuinely spooky and macabre, and normally I'm all for goofy and funny stuff, but it's almost as though the genuinely creepy kind of Halloween songs have gotten short shrift lately. I suppose that the most famous Halloween song of all-time, "Monster Mash", kind of set the standard for the novelty/goofy and pop/rock aspect of Halloween songs, but for me growing up, Halloween was also about the Horror Sounds of the Night kinds of records, and it's nice to hear a new album of Halloween songs that is a bit more frightening in nature, while not being gory or gross or demonic or anything like that.
The album begins with the beautifully scary "Welcome, said the Spider", with its deliciously creaky doors, jangling harpshichord and chilling vocals. M. Ryan employs his operatic vocal range to great effect throughout the CD, ranging from the softly mysterious to the powerfully ominous, as on the Phantom of the Opera style organ song, "Three Little Ghostesses", or the wonderfully string-laden "Old Witch, Old Witch". The vocal effects, sound effects and arrangements are very nicely done throughout; creative and varied and not always what you expect, but also not overblown. He even finds a way to use a jaw harp in a spooky way on the mummy song, "We're Back". I gotta tell ya, that ain't easy...
Some of the songs are reworkings of traditional tunes like "Mactavish is Dead" and many are originals (including "We're Back", "Welcome, said the Spider" and the pirate counterpoint number, "The Ghost Ship"), or folk songs with original lyrics and arrangements. There are a few bonafide startles and there is a very authentically nail-biting atmosphere throughout the CD, so some parental discretion is advised as far as who should listen.
Now that he's tackled one of the major holidays so well, I'd like to see what M. Ryan Taylor can do with other major holidays, like National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day (Dec. 16) or Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (Jan. 29). I'm sure he's hard at work on those as we speak.
It's been about four years now since my first kids' CD came out. I'm grateful that it was received so well (it's hard to say for sure if I'd still be doing this if that was a flop), but I never would have imagined that one of the tracks, which was the first real kids' song I ever wrote, "The Elephant Song", would still be going strong years later.
I've had many people tell me how their family has adapted "The Elephant Song" in some way... a clothes version, a food version, a toy version, etc. I performed my own Halloween version ("Vampires, I like vampires", etc.) at an event last year. We've got The Elephant Book in the works, and there's been the new recording featuring my girls on my recent Snail's Pace CD. And we might still do a new version of the video at some point (the video as it is was only ever supposed to be a demo). It's been really nice that so many people have appreciated that song so much, and it's sort of taken on a life of its own.
For example, nothing could have prepared me for the tip off I received this morning about the video above, made by Meeko of Hakkar. Wow! Or should I say "WoW"? It's definitely a unique interpretation, and I had to laugh out loud at some parts, like where I say, "They don't? Well, what am I thinking of?" and at the end where the minotaur scratches his bottom and then bursts into tears. Okay, the donkey is a horse, but you gotta give him credit because you can tell he put a lot of work into it and it was a very funny idea.
If you ever wonder how an independent children's music performer books a tour... well... so do I. :o) In my experience over the past few years doing this full-time, a lot of the more substantial trips have been built around whatever comes up first. For example, two years ago a school in Utah wanted me to come and perform there. They couldn't fly me in so it wasn't really practical to go all the way there just for that one school. But I took a chance and booked the assembly anyway, and then thankfully was able to hook up with another 20 gigs or so in the same general area (or on the way there and back) to correspond with that time frame. It was definitely worth the effort and most of those places have since asked me back, but it was quite a lot of work to coordinate all of that in the first place.
Well, thinking back on that, it feels like a piece of cake compared to what I'm looking at right now. Back in 2006, I was booked in advance for several libraries in the Baton Rouge area for June of 2008. I knew the day was coming when Roseann and I would have to plan for that trip and plot a course there and back. That day has come... The good news is that I've had a number of inquiries from schools and other events in places like L.A., San Diego, Kansas City, Phoenix and elsewhere, so we have a bit of a head start to include those places in the path for this trip. The bad news is, well, gosh, it's an enormous amount of area and population to cover. It will no doubt be an incredible amount of e-mailing, phone calling, postcard mailing, faxing and other means of contacting people in these areas.
So to answer the original question about how an independent children's musician books a tour (at least this independent children's musician, for this tour)... he asks for help.
I know there are a lot of people who read this blog who have kids in elementary school, and there might even be a few who know booking agents in some of these areas. If you live in or near the target areas (see below) and have any contacts at elementary schools, libraries, day cares, parks & recreation departments, churches, corporate events, festivals, fairs, etc., please let me know and let your contacts there know that I'll be coming through. Any contacts you can share with me or plugs you can pass on will be very much appreciated. There are printable PDF flyers at this page with some basic information about what I offer. They can be passed on to your school's principal or PTA/PTO members or to your local children's librarian or to your parks department's event coordinator, etc.
Here is the list of target dates and areas (subject to a little bit of adjustment):
Seattle: March 24-27
Portland: March 29 - April 1
Medford/Redding: April 4-5
Bay Area: April 9-15
L.A./San Diego: April 18-25
Las Vegas: April 29 - May 2
Phoenix/Tucson: May 6-10
El Paso: May 14-16
San Antonio/Austin: May 21-23
Houston: May 27-30
Baton Rouge: June 2-19 (already booked for several shows)
Dallas: June 21-25
Oklahoma City/Tulsa: June 27-28
Branson/Springfield: June 29 - July 6
Kansas City: July 8-11
Colorado Springs: July 15-18
Denver: July 19-23
Salt Lake City: July 26-31
Ogden/Logan: August 1-2
Boise: August 5-6
Tri-Cities, WA: August 7
Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Boise, Tri-Cities, etc.: The rest of August and September
If you have any inquiries or information to share, please contact me. I'll be glad to send out promo materials as needed.
It's also helpful to know if anyone can offer us a safe place to park our RV for the night in any of those areas. And if so, your kids might end up getting an impromptu Eric Herman concert in your living room.
The Hipwaders are one of the best kid rock bands to emerge in recent years, and their latest CD is called Educated Kid.
In my previous feature about The Hipwaders, I mentioned how much I liked the songs on their debut CD, but that their influences often seemed too obvious, so that it sometimes sounded like a Beatles tribute band performing original kids' songs. Thankfully, on Educated Kid, the band seems to have largely shed the need to wear their influences so prominently and are sounding more like a very unique band that blends a variety of sounds and musical approaches with clever lyrics and stories. There are still some sound-alike parts here and there; the "baa baa" sections of "Little Baby Brother" and "You've Got to Move" that sound a lot like "Let's Spend the Night Together" as if sung by The Monkees; and the Proclaimers joined by John Mellencamp "uh huh, uh huh, uh huh" of the title track. But even in those cases, the integration into the songs is more transparent than it seemed on their first album.
Speaking of the title track, wow, it's absolutely incredible. A really cool tremolo guitar riff, a great verse leading to a greater pre-chorus leading to a perfect hook, and a poignant message about how your education, no matter how or where you get it (clown college, beauty school, home school, researching on your own, etc.), can help you to achieve great things in life. It doesn't get much better than this in kids' music, and Tito Uquillas and Co. have definitely got their biggest hit so far with this song.
With the "Educated Kid" song as great as it is, it's a tough act to follow for the rest of the album. After a few listens through the whole CD, the other songs haven't grabbed me as well as that title track, or as well as some of the songs on their first CD (regardless of the sound-alike thing), but it's hard to compare the other songs fairly with "Educated Kid" on there. There's a whole lot to love on this album, to be sure, and without the benchmark of the title track, I'm sure the other songs would stand perfectly well on their own. Other favorite tracks of mine include the chunky reggae of "You've Got to Move", the frenzied rock of "Art Car", featuring some awesome drumming by Nick Baca (see video below), and the spacey trip through the ages of the Earth called "The History of Declan Rae". Befitting the title, The Hipwaders seem to have skewed more heavily toward educational subjects on this disc, and the obvious comparisons will be to Schoolhouse Rock! But it can be very difficult to craft an informative message about things like paleontology, geometry or the Dewey Decimal System into a memorable and captivating song. On Educated Kid, sometimes the attempts work really well and sometimes they don't quite. "Dewey Decimal System", for example, kind of meanders through several different musical stages, so for the most part I would put it into the "doesn't quite work" category. But then it does score some big points for the funky part where the title is repeated. Give the words "Dewey Decimal System" to a hundred different songwriters and I doubt any could make them sound as cool as Tito did with that chorus. So with this type of material, I don't think they've yet reached the level of accessibility and "all-time classic" feel as Schoolhouse Rock!, but they're certainly in the right neighborhood and show terrific potential to create a cool new brand of educational songs in addition to the other fun songs in their catalog.
Overall, Educated Kid continues to highlight what an incredibly creative and tight band The Hipwaders are and what a fantastic voice for kids' music Tito Uquillas has, both as a singer and a songwriter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go play that title track about ten more times... Oh, yeah... I'm just an educated kid... uh huh, uh huh, uh huh...
When I first decided to make the plunge into doing music for kids back when I lived in Buffalo, people from the area kept telling me, "Oh, you mean like Glenn Colton?" or "Oh, you should go see Glenn Colton." Recently, a musician I know from Buffalo named Matt Suroweic contacted me to ask some advice about his own foray into doing music for kids, and so of course I had to say, "Go see Glenn Colton!"
Suffice it to say that Glenn Colton is without a doubt the first name in children's music in the greater Western New York area. A quick scan of his schedule and you can see how popular he is as a performer, and many of the venues where he performs have him back year after year after year. That's not surprising, as Glenn writes very memorable songs for kids and performs them in very interactive and involving shows that are a lot of fun, and he provides a wide variety of school assembly programs that cater very well to what a lot of schools want to offer for their students. After heeding the advice of those who said to me, "Go see Glenn Colton," I went to one of his park concerts and one of his school assemblies, and was inspired by how well a one-man-band performer could entertain a large group of kids. I had one of those "that's what I'd like to do with my life!" kind of feelings (not a moment too soon, considering I was about 33 at the time). Glenn made it look so easy and fun (of course, I hadn't seen the many years of experience he already had up to that point) and his use of conga lines, limbo sticks and other various props and jokes was also inspiring for the kind of fun shows I wanted to offer kids and families. If you saw a show with me and Glenn on a bill together (hopefully we'll put that together sometime when I'm out in Western New York again), you would probably notice a difference in some of the styles of material and humor that we each employ, and yet, you might also recognize that Glenn was a big influence on me as a children's performer, and so I would expect that you might find both shows to be highly entertaining and fun in their own unique ways.
When I first met him, Glenn was generous about sharing some tips to get me going in the right direction, and I really appreciated that. We've been friends ever since, and so when I was back in Buffalo recently, I thought, why not do an interview with him, since I've been meaning to feature him here at some point? Glenn invited me over and he shared a lot of great insights into his musical approach and how he's achieved and maintained his success performing music for children. The interview is split up into two parts below...
Buck Howdy is unique in the children's music world. Yes, there have been some good country-music styled kids' acts coming out in recent years, including Little Nashville, Farmer Jason and the Bummkin Band, but there hasn't really been a notable old-fashioned cowboy personality like Buck... at least not that I'm aware of.
