What a Ride!

What a Ride!, my fifth CD of music for kids/families, was released back in June (man, I'm so behind on this blog...). The album includes 11 tracks and some guest appearances and performances by several awesome kids' music artists, many of whom I've featured here; Gwendolyn Sanford of Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang, Tito Uquillas of The Hipwaders, Eric Ode, Robbi K, Chris Wiser of Sugar Free Allstars, Jim Dague of Scribblemonster, David Tobocman, Devon Thagard of Super Simple Songs, Glenn Colton and Mr. Billy.

My wife, Roseann, and I produced this album together over the past two years, and though there is certainly no objectivity here, we think it's my best album yet and we're really happy with how it turned out. Well, the final master for the first run was a little different than for subsequent runs, since I noticed some things I wanted to adjust, sound-wise... We were pressed for time to get it to the manufacturer to have copies in hand by the release date and I believe I would have chosen a different mix/master to send in for that if I'd had more time to review everything. But that's all fixed for future runs. The album as it was sounded good, just the perfectionist in me wanted a few tonal changes here and there... Regardless, I've always been very happy with the music that's on the album.

I would say that What a Ride! is less comedy oriented than albums like Snow Day! or Monkey Business, and it probably skews a little older in general than my previous albums, but it has a really nice variety to it, and thematically it loosely depicts the journey and growth of childhood and the exploration and illumination involved with that. The album also includes some of my very favorite songs from among my catalogue, specifically "Stink Bug", "What a Ride" and "How Big". "How Big", in particular, came out better than I could have hoped, especially with the soaring outro vocals by Robbi K and the chorus of friends and family on the outro refrain... I don't know if any song could really begin to describe or depict the unimaginable immensity of life and the universe, but "How Big" does give me a little bit of the feeling of that, which is what I was aiming for. We're currently working on a video for that, which will be fun to put together.

You can listen to samples of all 11 songs at this page. There are also full songs to hear, including "Heartbeat (The Stethoscope Song)", "What a Ride" and "How Big", at my Facebook page. The video for "Ants in Your Pants #99" is below, as well as the compilation video from a video dance contest we held on YouTube back in July. What a Ride! is available through my website, as well as at CDBaby, Amazon.com, iTunes and other major digital sites.

Didi Pop

Didi Pop has been embarrassing me. Her tunes are so catchy that I find myself singing them in public places, not even realizing I'm doing it. Normally, that wouldn't be so bad, even with a 40 year-old guy singing kids' tunes, but there's something particularly disturbing about singing a line like "when my diaper's drippy, it hardens up my poo" and realizing by the look on the grocery clerk's face that yes, I did sing that out loud.

I'm referring to a line from the song, "B-R-A-T-Y", the video of which (watch it below) was my first introduction to Didi Pop, a children's artist from Los Angeles. For me, the song was an instant classic; amazingly catchy and upbeat, and so up front about its dietary/digestive message. I think we in the kids' music world sometimes shy away from songs that could be considered "preachy" or "messagey" (I don't think that's even a word... and my spell checker agrees... but I've heard it used a lot in this genre), or we try to be so subtle about it that any message that is there is going to be too vague for a lot of kids to even appreciate. But Didi has nothing to hide on "B-R-A-T-Y"; if you eat certain foods, your bowel movements will be more solid. Pure information, sung so matter-of-factly and confidently with a bouncy "11 o'clock number" showtune melody that it becomes ingrained almost instantly. Now, if the message in "B-R-A-T-Y" was bad information, it could be dangerous propaganda... you wouldn't want kids going around singing "when my diaper's drippy, I should hitchhike to Reykjavik"... but as it is, the song is a perfect vehicle for its message.

Didi came to a show of mine in L.A. earlier this year and we exchanged CDs. She gave me her debut Didi Pop CD and I gave her a scratched copy of Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer in Twelve Different Languages (which was hidden inside one of my CD cases). I think I got the better deal from that as we have since listened to her CD over and over and over, with my girls requesting it over and over and over and me not minding to play it over and over and over. So what makes Didi's CD so great? Well, I'll tell you...

Didi has one of the best voices I've ever heard in the kids' genre; great range and tone and polished yet down-to-earth. At times she sounds a bit like other favorites of mine like Frances England and Gwendolyn from Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang, so there's a familiarity about the general sound which is nice for what she's singing, but she also has very much of her own voice and style. If anything, Didi's singing approach and aura as a performer reminds me most of Mary Poppins; at times soft and sweet but often in-your-face brassy with a sly charm and wit that belies the messages she is planting.

Her singing is one thing, but Didi is also a top-notch songwriter, giving a great vehicle to her voice and singing approach. "The Cool Alphabet Song" (see video below) at first seems like yet another attempt to supplant that famous alphabet song (which is not likely to happen in our lifetime), but it takes some really interesting turns musically and uses some clever letter devices (not unlike Ralph's World's recent "Abby's Alphabet Soup"). "Feed the Pet" is a cute calypso style tune and "Max the Wonderdog" a terrific Tin Pan Alley style tale. "Yellow Car" is an example of the depth and breadth of this album, as it was not an early favorite of mine and yet it's the tune I find myself singing in public places most often lately (which is much less embarrassing than "B-R-A-T-Y"). "Look at Yourself in the Mirror" is a super cool pop tune with yet another incredibly catchy hook; "Neferdidi" is a fun genie-in-the-lamp story with a great Silk Road sound; and "Monday" is a neat a cappela trip through the days of the week and other time-related measurements.

The closing song on Didi Pop is called "Dream". "Dream" is not just one of the best lullabies I've ever heard, it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, period. This song has actually made me cry while driving down the road listening to it and thinking of how magnificent life really is (yes, more embarrassment if a trucker happens to drive by and see me bawling while listening to a lullaby!). The lyrics are fairly standard lullaby fare about rainbows and clouds and such, but there is something so deeply moving about the way everything comes together for me with the words and music and Didi's elegant singing, that I don't know if I can even express it adequately. When our Becca was a baby, we had a mix CD of different mellow songs (James Taylor, etc.) to play for her at bedtime, and it was nice for us to hear those songs coming through the baby monitor in our room. I'll never forget how one night, as I was drifting away into sleep, I barely heard "Canon in D" playing through the monitor, and with my eyes closed I could see this gloriously colorful world of music far away among the darkness of the room and of the night and of the world. It was a wonderful feeling and this song is one of the few things I've heard since then that has touched into that same kind of spirit.

I couldn't talk about Didi Pop's album without mentioning what is perhaps its greatest weapon of all... Delilah. Delilah is Didi's daughter, three years-old at the time of the recording, and she may be the cutest sounding little kid I've heard on any children's CD (and I've heard some cute ones!). She interacts wonderfully on songs like "Feed the Pet" ("feed a Dinah Shore!") and "Merci" and pops up in a few spots here and there, and I would have liked to hear more of her on the album. My advice to Didi is to take Delilah into a studio and record her for several hours saying various different things, so she'll have a backlog of cute Delilah recordings to use for albums to come, though I'm sure she'll still be very cute sounding for at least a few more years.

But you don't have to take my word for any of this... Didi has generously offerred her entire album to listen to for free on her website at this link: http://www.didipop.com By all means, go there and listen, but be forewarned, you may find yourself belting out her tunes in public, and if so, well, I hope you don't get embarrassed too easily.

Didi Pop's website

Gunnar Madsen

It's amazing how with all of the kids' music I've heard since starting this blog (and before that), I am still often blown away by new things I hear... And every so often, I'm blown away even beyond any normal standards of what constitutes being "blown away". Gunnar Madsen's I'm Growing album is a perfect example of that, and is without a doubt one of the most entertaining kids' music albums I've ever heard.

I'm Growing may not be to everyone's taste (not that anything is)... it is at once adventurous, over-the-top, complex, goofy, challenging and diverse, and it might be a little too much for anyone looking for a more straightforward sing-a-long kind of CD for their kids. But if you can just let it play and be open to discovering its creativity and uniqueness, then a real musical treat awaits, to be sure.

The opening title track builds up to arrive and envelope you. Instantly, Gunnar's vocal and arranging virtuosity is evident (he might be considered the kids' music equivalent of Bobby McFerrin) and you know you're in for something really special, and the rest of the album delivers a tasty smorgasbord of musical and lyrical ideas. "Pumpkin Hair" takes a simple, folksy kind of barn dance rhythm (think the New Main Street Singers from A Mighty Wind) and spices it up with some unexpected chord changes. "Walkin' Back to Texas" seems to channel 70's laid-back folk-rock tunes like Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime". "Sun Comes Up" bounces along with some clever odd-timing and fun vocal play. "Mozart's at the Window" is a tour-de-force of vocal harmonies and layering. "Always on the Bottom" is a catchy and funny Elvis-style tune that scores extra credit for rhyming "bottom" with "Hillary Rodham". "Simple" belies its name by including some sophisticated lyrics and chord changes in a cool tongue-in-cheek way. "Library Closing Time" is a party rock anthem with a great rhythm pickup and the classic line: "Dewey Decimal? Yes, we do." The album ends with the beautiful original track "Tonight" and a stunning rendition of the traditional standard "Shenandoah".

Much of I'm Growing sounds familiar, musically speaking, and yet it's so fresh and original that it is always unmistakably "Gunnar Madsen". I'm reminded of the quote I used to describe Frances England's first CD, where Leonard Bernstein referenced good art as being "fresh, but inevitable." Gunnar's other children's music CDs, Old Mr. Mackle Hackle and Ants in My Pants, and his composing efforts involving waltzes and synthesized dramatic works all have the same sense of unique brilliance and variety. But I'm Growing reaches musical heights even farther reaching than his previous children's albums, and stands out as a groundbreaking recording in the genre.

Click here for song samples, lyrics and ordering information for I'm Growing.

I was happy to be able to meet up with Gunnar at his home last year and interview him about I'm Growing and the rest of his work, but I've had some trouble getting the interview transcribed... It's almost complete now, though, so I will try to get that posted sometime after I'm home again in May.

Kids' Rock by Tim Hawkins

More new stuff coming soon, I promise, but in the meantime, check out this video... and don't drink any milk while you watch it...

CD Short Takes

In an attempt to catch up on the enormous backlog of CDs I have received for this blog over the past year, here's the first batch of several "short take" CD reviews... with more such batches to come over the winter. Though I like to include sound samples and video clips with my feature posts, they can take a good amount of time to get together, so I'm going to skip those for these short takes and just post the artist's website links. In most cases, the websites should have sound samples available, or links to sites that do...

That Baby CD

I think the producers of this CD did themselves a disservice by naming it what they did... Presumably, it was meant to be a CD of mellowish classic rock covers for babies to chill out to, but the songs are sophisticated (the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" as an "I need some attention!" kids' song was a particularly brilliant choice) and the singing and arrangements are beautiful and contemporary, and my girls (aged 6 and nearly 4) play this album repeatedly in their bedroom while loudly singing along. So by all means, ignore the title, as this is just a great record for any age, really.

That Baby CD website


ScribbleMonster - Songs With No Character

According to the press release this is supposed to be a CD for parents, moreso than kids, which is presumably why they left ScribbleBunny and even ScribbleMonster himself off of the album in favor of the human voices of Jim and Jayne and Joyce. But I think most of the songs still work very well as kids' songs, so regardless, it's a really great ScribbleMonster album. Highlights include the Motown rocker, "Doing the Right Thing Isn't Always Easy, Doing the Easy Thing Isn't Always Right"; the hilariously awesome "I'm a Utility Pole (The World's Worst Dance Song)"; the incredibly touching board game metaphor, "The Game of Life"; and the great "look for the silver lining" message of "It Could Have Been Worse" (co-written with Monty Harper). I do miss the ScribbleMonster "fill-in-the-blank songs" from their previous CDs, but still, this a very entertaining album, through and through.

ScribbleMonster website


Eric Ode - When You Smile

This is, I think, Eric's strongest collection of songs yet, with a lot of fun tunes including the opener "Poor Planet Pluto", a poignant and topical story about the former planet's status reduction from "planet" to "giant rock floating in space"; "Legendary Larry", a clever lounge jazz number about an incredibly average person; "Let a Little Light Shine", a rhythmically interesting and very catchy spiritual anthem; and the classic "This Song Has No Elephants", which may be the best Eric Ode song EVAR. The recorded poem tracks are kind of hit and miss for me, but musically speaking, this is a very solid and engaging album. (Kudos to Eric for the several poems of his included on Buck Howdy's Grammy-nominated CD, Around the Fire... and kudos to Buck, too, of course!)

Eric Ode website


Justin Roberts - Pop Fly

After five listens through, Pop Fly hasn't attached itself to me the way Justin's previous Meltdown album did after the first or second listen, but the fact that I've listened to it five times through should be indication enough that by any reasonable standard for kids' music, it's a really great album (and another favorite of my girls'). The opening title track is quintessential Justin Roberts; adventurous, melodic, memorable, wonderful... and though the rest of the album doesn't quite reach the same heights as that song does, there are several other gems, including the funny and folksy "Henrietta's Hair", "Field Trip" (complete with Roberts' signature v-v-v-vocal lines and "whoa-oh"s) and the ultra-smooth "Kickboard, Baby, Yeah".

Justin Roberts website


Ralph's World - Rhyming Circus

Though similar to Pop Fly in that it doesn't live up to the expectation created by its enormously awesome predecessor (Green Gorilla, Monster and Me), Rhyming Circus is still a solid entry in the genre. Ralph seems to use quite a few "hey, look at my Beatles reference!" references on this album, but the songs are very original and fresh, nonetheless. The rock anthem "Gotta Be Good" is my new favorite Ralph tune, and would probably be a hit for John Mellencamp, and other favorites are "Abby's Alphabet Soup", which nicely demonstrates the different sounds of each letter; "Do the Math"; "Finger is the Singer"; and "Edward, the Tap-Dancing Elephant".

Ralph's World website

Video for "The Tale of the Sun and the Moon"

More new features and interviews are coming soon (Gunnar Madsen, Harmonica Pocket, Dog on Fleas and others), as well as some catching up on CDs released this year by favorites of mine (ScribbleMonster, Eric Ode, Justin Roberts, etc.). But right now, I have to pay the bills, so to speak, by doing some advertising for the main sponsor of this blog (me)...

My latest video, for "The Tale of the Sun and the Moon", has been uploaded to YouTube. You can check it out below, though I recommend clicking through to YouTube to click on the "watch in high quality" link, where the video quality will be better and the audio will be in stereo. Enjoy!

Interview with Ezra of Trout Fishing in America

This fall, Trout Fishing in America released their 15th CD (yes 15th!), Big Round World, and as a big fan of the duo for the last several years I was happy to discover that it is my favorite of all their albums so far. When a band or artist has released that many albums, you always look forward to the new release, and oftentimes you really like it because it's a group whose musical language you can identify with and appreciate, but it becomes harder after so many albums to really define things like "favorite" or "best". If anything, you might often be into the current album the most because it's the newest one and it's fresh. But in this case, I really think this is Trout Fishing's strongest album yet, which is saying a lot, considering how much I like their previous albums. And it was just announced last night that they have received their fourth Grammy nomination in the Best Children's Album category for Big Round World.

The opening title track is immediately identifiable as "the Trout Fishing sound", with chugging acoustic guitars, bouncy rhythms and Ezra's big, round voice singing a memorable song about our big, round world. "My Favorite Jeans" covers more of a rock sound with Keith belting a funny ode to his favorite jeans, which leads nicely into "When You Get Dressed", a reggae/ska flavored track which may be the catchiest Trout tune I've heard yet. Ezra dispenses important advice such as "You don't wear a ski mask to the bank, or an evening gown to drive a tank". Other highlights (among many) include "Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks", a terrific inspirational anthem; "Too Good to Be True", a funny story with cool saxophone and upright bass accompaniment; "Curse of the Spinach", which cleverly describes the downfall of that formerly revered vegetable; and "Five", the album closer which beautifully describes how we all were once (or will soon be) five years old.

Earlier this year, my family and I were grateful to be able to spend some time with Ezra and his wife, Karen, and I took the opportunity to interview him about the new album and about Trout Fishing's music over the years...

Interview with Ezra Idlet

Samples from Big Round World:
"When You Get Dressed"
"Too Good to Be True"
"Five"

Order Trout Fishing in America CDs here:
http://www.troutmusic.com/store/catalog.asp


Our family with Ezra in front of the "Dreaming" treehouse...

Submissions are CLOSED

I probably should have done this a few months ago, but at this point I really need to officially close submissions for this blog. I already have way too big of a backlog as it is, and very limited time to devote to catching up on it. It used to be that I could at least listen to every CD that was sent me, and then feature what I could from them, but I've actually had quite a hard time keeping up with even listening to everything that I've been sent over the last several months. I feel terrible about that, and apologize if your CD happens to get missed when I finally get more caught up on things. I know that I've never promised that I could cover everything, anyway, but I really hate to have anybody send me CDs without even an expectation of them being listened to. So I need to draw the line and request that no new CDs be sent. If there is something in particular that I want to check out, I'll specifically make contact and ask for a promo copy, at which point I will promise to definitely cover that CD. And with that in mind, please don't ask me to listen to something to see if I would want to request a promo copy... I really need to be fair to the people who have already sent actual CDs and make sure I've covered what I can from them first.

The good news is that I have started working on some articles again recently, and have several things coming up, including interviews that I've mentioned before with Gunnar Madsen, Ezra from Trout Fishing and several others. And also, though I'll certainly be well behind with some of the newer things coming out (which I've always been, anyway), I've got quite a lot of great stuff to cover from the CDs I already have that will keep me busy enough for quite a while.

I will take my hat off to others who have been more consistent in keeping up with posting about kids' music (see my links below). Speaking both as a kids' music artist and as a fan of the genre, I really appreciate that. Unfortunately, I haven't even been able to read a lot of the kids' music blogs this year (I had to shut down my Google Reader during a particularly busy stretch, and I've only recently started adding back some things...), so I definitely feel out of the loop a bit. But you don't have to feel out of the loop like me, with others staying on top of things.

Imagination Movers

So it's been over three months since I've posted here, and I'm really sorry about that. I'm sure Brady Rymer hasn't minded having three months of "first post" coverage, but for the rest of you, I apologize for the lack of updates. I've just been super busy with recording and traveling and other stuff and I found it really hard to find the time to write up anything when traveling. On many days it was hard to keep up with the travelblogue, even.

But anyway, I am going to do my best to get caught up here, and the cool thing is that I have a nice list of things to add, including several interviews and many new CDs to cover, but that will mean that I'm going to have to keep it brief and mostly stick to capsule posts. There's probably a collective cheer going out, as my posts are probably too long as it is, but the thing is, in many cases I just prefer to write "articles" as opposed to writing something more succinct. If I'm going to write about something, then by golly I'm gonna write about it.

The Imagination Movers are a four-piece band from New Orleans, and they make an ideal subject for a transition into doing more "capsule" sized posts, because I'm not all that familiar with them or their music, so there can't really be all that much for me to write about. I had been aware of them vaguely for a few years and liked the few song clips of theirs that I had come across online here and there, but I didn't really have a lot to go on until seeing their new show on Playhouse Disney. We decided to check it out when it debuted and it's quickly becoming a favorite of my girls and I think it's a really fun show, too.

The Mover guys have a lot of charm and do a great job acting and performing on the show, and the show itself exudes the light comic feel of The Monkees. There's not an abundance of humor, but there definitely are some comic moments throughout every show, which automatically jumps it ahead of The Wiggles TV shows and videos. I've always been a fan of The Wiggles' music, but the content of their shows and videos have seemed lacking to me in terms of comedy. Sure, they're geared toward very young kids, but other shows like Sesame Street always found ways to appeal to that same age group with a lot more comedy included (meaning both kids comedy and adult comedy). The Imagination Movers have a similar appeal as The Wiggles, though they are probably aimed more toward preschool and lower elementary aged kids, as opposed to the toddlers that The Wiggles are probably a better target for.

The show depicts the Movers (Scott, Smitty, Rich and Dave), their puppet friend, Warehouse Mouse, and their (well characterized) boring neighbor Knit Knots and his niece, Nina, as they try to solve various problems using basic problem solving and imagination (a subject I've always been very interested in). And though I've only seen a few episodes, I've already been hooked on their music from the show. It's very straightforward pop and rock, with a little funk and not-too-terribly-bad-for-kind-of-dorky-white-guys rapping thrown in, and the hooks are quite strong and memorable. There's a vibrancy and fun to their sound that reminds me of bands like BNL and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, as well as some funk-rap akin to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. My favorite songs so far include the opening "Imagination Movers" theme song (don't you miss theme songs on TV shows??), the rockabilly-esque "Brainstorm" anthem, the super catchy and bouncy "Jump Up" and the upbeat countrified "7 Days a Week".

Now that I've been introduced to the Imagination Movers through their TV show, I look forward to hearing more of their great music. I hope the show is a big success for them!

You can hear several Imagination Movers songs and see some videos through this link on their website.

Brady Rymer

I hadn't heard too much of Brady Rymer prior to hearing a preview song ("Road Trip") from his newest album, but once I heard that, I knew I had to hear more. I was about to request a copy of Here Comes Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could when it showed up in my mailbox. I like when that happens... I've listened to the whole album a few times now and each time it's put a really big smile on my face and always inspired me to want to sing and dance along. Of course, my dancing is dangerous enough, but especially dangerous when I'm driving, which is usually when I'm listening to music... so I've just opted for the singing along part, and reduced the dancing along to some head bobbing and such.

Here Comes... is nothing but gems. Of all 13 tracks, there's only one that I don't really love ("Get Back Home"), and even that one I still kind of like alright. The album starts with a self-referential "here we are, kids" kind of track plugging Brady's Little Band That Could. There are a lot of tracks of this type that I've heard on kids' albums over the years where the band or artist introduces themselves with the first song (the Hipwaders' first album leadoff track comes quickly to mind as one of my favorites), but sometimes they can wear out their welcome if they're any longer than the average TV theme song. This is one of the few ones I can think of that works very well as a full three and a half minute song, with a catchy hook and some nice chord changes in the bridge that keep it all chugging along nicely.

The aforementioned "Road Trip" is next and it's just a flat out showstopper. In my interview with Ralph Covert, he talked about the "vocabulary of rock and roll", and this whole album and the "Road Trip" song in particular shows that Brady is obviously very fluent in that language. He may not be charting any new territory... you can hear him going where Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger and others have gone before... but he's not merely retreading it, either. It all sounds very fresh and he definitely embodies the music completely.

The third track is "Jump Up (It's a Good Day)" and it's the catchiest tune of the set (which is saying a lot, as there are many good hooks throughout the album). If you're ever feeling grumpy, just put on this album, and if you're not feeling bouncier than a Tigger after the first two songs, you will be once this track hits. In Brady's previous life, he fronted the jam rock band, From Good Homes, who opened for Bob Dylan and Dave Mathews and other big name acts (I saw them open for Bob Weir's Ratdog band in Buffalo back in the mid-90's), and that kind of infectious rhythm and blues jam rock thing really shines through on this one.

Other standouts for me include "It Was a Saturday Night", which combines several different 70's rock styles into yet another great song; "One True You", a pretty anthem about why kids look and act the way they do in relation to their family (I really like how the song starts with "I see your Mom in you, I see your Dad in you, etc." and then goes to "I see faith in you, I see joy in you, etc."); "Again", another very catchy and upbeat tune that uses a false ending to great effect; and "Good Night, Daisy", as beautiful a lullaby as I've ever heard, and a song I've played several times in a row just to get lost in its magnificent elegance.

Brady's vocals are a little twangy and he sounds sort of like Lyle Lovett at times. It's a unique voice for the kids' music genre, and he certainly has the chops for pulling off these songs with the right phrasing and attitude. His "little band" is really great, too... always serving the song and coloring everything vibrantly throughout.

I'm going to have to remain noncommital about Brady Rymer's previous albums until I hear more of them, but there's no doubt that Here Comes Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could is a real treat and worth hearing again and again. Just be careful dancing while you're driving, please.

Brady Rymer's website

Loquat Rooftop (Randy Kaplan)

Randy Kaplan's debut kids' album, Five Cent Piece, was one of the coolest totally out-of-left-field things I've discovered since doing this blog. In essence, Randy is the Arlo Guthrie of children's music, and while the obvious comparison to Arlo Guthrie makes Randy's general approach a little less than unique, Randy always adds much of his own originality and personality and style and humor into that approach, and I can't imagine anyone else doing that kind of thing as well as Randy does for a kids audience. In fact, hearing Randy spin more of his hilarious yarns on his terrific new CD, Loquat Rooftop, I can't help but think that perhaps time is running backwards and the references should be the other way around... Maybe Arlo Guthrie should really be called "the Randy Kaplan of storytelling songs for adults". The spirit and humor and style of that approach is always designed to tickle the fancy of the kid inside us... it's just a question of the subject matter involved as to what the audience's age range will be.

Like its predecessor, Loquat Rooftop includes some originals and some covers. The covers include similar Tin Pan Alley and classic rock 'n' roll fare as the covers on Five Cent Piece (and one particular gem, the Randy-fied "Clothes Dryer"), but a significant thing about this new album is that the originals are the real standouts this time around. With Five Cent Piece, I liked Randy's originals, especially "Shampoo Me", but they were all, well, a little weird. Likably weird, but weird, nonetheless. There's still some real strangeness to the originals on Loquat Rooftop like "No Nothing" (featuring a monkey named Kxchc, who was raised by ducks) and "The Ladybug Without Spots" (who solves that problem by having watermelon seeds glued to her back), but there's an effusive charm that shines through each of them. The feeling of enjoyment is always first and foremost with these originals, as opposed to the Five Cent Piece originals, where I enjoyed them, but only in spite of them all being a little strange. And some of the new originals are more straightforward sounding and are quite beautiful, like the title track (the melody of which reminds me a lot of a song that I'm not sure I've ever heard before), "(Don't Say) Anything At All" (I love how he demonstrates what he's talking about with his little kid voices between the verses) and "Gotta Get Gone", the bluesy closing number.

A great thing about Randy is that he is not afraid to be downright silly with his voices and jokes when he knows that will serve the material and the intended audience. And by the intended audience, I don't just mean kids... adults eat up well-crafted goofiness, too (Monty Python, Steve Martin during his standup career, the Airplane!/Naked Gun movies, etc.). Certainly, this adult and his wife have laughed out loud many times while listening to this album. Some things like "The Sour Song" are kind of one-time laughs, as brilliant as they are, but other things are funny again and again, and Randy's eloquently witty wordplay and vocal phrasing is always a joy to listen to. He has a real knack for comedy and entertaining through his music, and I can't wait to hear what he'll come up with next.

Buy Loquat Rooftop on CDBaby

New releases and upcoming interviews...

So this seems to be the season for new kids' music CD releases... Several of my favorite artists who I've already covered here have recently released new albums, or are about to release their new CDs. (I'm glad I'm not releasing my new album right now... Whew!)

I've been listening to a lot of these CDs on the road recently, and I hope to be able to cover each of them at some point, at least in capsule reviews if not something more in depth... But for now I'm going to just list them below and let you check them out from the links. Also, there are several other new CDs that I've received and will have to add to my ever-growing "hope to cover here at some point" list, including Brady Rymer, Gunnar Madsen, Mr. Eric, Recess Monkey and others.

Also, I have some cool interviews coming up with some people I've met up with on my recent travels, including Frances England, Gunnar Madsen, Tito of the Hipwaders and Gwendolyn and Brandon from Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang. I'll begin transcribing our conversations in May and will post those as soon as possible.

New CDs recently or soon-to-be released...

Randy Kaplan - Loquat Rooftop

Daddy a Go Go - Rock of All Ages

Ralph's World - The Rhyming Circus

Eric Ode - When You Smile

Justin Roberts - Pop Fly

Mr. Billy - Six Leg Songs

Frances England - Family Tree

They Might Be Giants - Here Come the 123s

Also, Ginger Hendrix had a major new release recently... a baby girl.