I wouldn't be here if not for Elizabeth Mitchell. Not in a "here on this planet" manner of speaking, but here, writing about music for kids and families. A webforum's random note suggesting her kids' music debut You Are My Flower prompted an impulsive purchase; listening to the album, brief though it was, opened my ears to the possibilities in listening to (and making) music with kids. It and its successor, You Are My Sunshine, became beloved and well-worn recordings in our household. I mention this for two reasons: one, to express my debt of gratitude to Ms. Mitchell for that first album; and two, to give you a sense of my bias heading into the review of Elizabeth Mitchell's 3rd solo CD for kids and her first for the venerable Smithsonian Folkways label, You Are My Little Bird (2006). The pairing is so obvious that it makes you wonder why nobody had thought of this sooner. Mitchell's previous kids' albums (including another album made with her college bandmate Lisa Loeb) always relied heavily on traditional songs discovered or made famous by such Folkways standbys as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Elizabeth Cotten. (She also liked covering Bob Dylan songs, too, part of the albums' unique charms.) The folk approach (homemade sound, often only accompanied by husband and musical partner Daniel Littleton) also made it sound very Folkways-like. This album is loosely organized around the avian theme of the title, with songs such as the traditional "Little Bird, Little Bird" and the Spanish-language "Los Pollitos" (The Little Chicks). (The use of non-English-language tracks continues the trend seen in the Mitchell-Loeb Catch The Moon album.) The album also includes slightly less traditional (but no less avian) covers of Neil Young ("Little Wing") and Gillian Welch/David Rawlings ("Winter's Come and Gone"). Some songs encourage listener participation, such as on "Little Liza Jane," which names cities familiar to the artists, while one of the album's standout tracks, "If You Listen," a sweet folk-pop track, encourages the listener to search for certain sounds (birds, different instruments). If there's a key song thematically here, this is it. Another one of my favorite tracks is the cover of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On," which, well, rocks in a way few if any other Mitchell's kids' music tracks do. It fits in well with an album which takes the homemade sound of her previous CDs and builds upon it in different ways -- the significant (but not distracting) presence of daughter Storey, the gradual building of voices in the opener "Little Liza Jane," the banjo on "Little Bird, Little Bird" (recorded by another stellar kids' musician and banjo player, Pete Seeger). I can't discuss this album without mentioning Mitchell's voice, which is the sweetest and best voice in kids' and family music today. The crystal-clear quality of her voice not only is pleasant to hear, it's also essential to understanding the lyrics so you can then sing the songs to the kids in your life. (In fact, if I have one complaint with the album it's that some of the non-Mitchell-penned liner notes take up valuable space which could've otherwise been used to print lyrics.) Like the other Mitchell CDs, the sense of calm that permeates the album makes it appropriate for a wide age range, but it's probably best for kids ages 2 through 7. You can hear 5 of the songs (including "What Goes On" and "Three Little Birds") in their entirety at Mitchell's website (click on "Sunshine," then "Listen.") You can hear samples from all the tracks on the album at its Amazon page. If, like me, you are familiar with Elizabeth Mitchell's work, you will not be disappointed by this latest album -- it retains the simplicity and homemade sound of the earlier albums while expanding upon it in new and delightful ways. If, like me a number of years ago, you are unfamiliar with Elizabeth Mitchell's work, You Are My Little Bird is an excellent introduction. The album is a gift to kids and adults alike. Highly recommended.
Johnny Cash's most famous songs are his most tormented -- "I shot a man in Reno / Just to watch him die," sings the prisoner in his "Folsom Prison Blues" -- which means he's not exactly at the top of the list of artists who scream out "children's music" to the public. (We're still waiting for the Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins kids' CDs, too.) But contrary to the legend that surrounded the Man in Black, Cash never actually served time in prison and in 1975 Cash released the Johnny Cash Children's Album, a motley collection of kids-accessible tunes recorded in the early '70s. In 2006 Sony re-released the album for the first time on CD, with liner notes from Cash's son John Carter Cash and 4 bonus tracks. The 37-minute album, while retaining some of the trademark Cash sound (Cash's powerful voice is still there, the shuffling "freight train" instrumentals make occasional appearances), doesn't have a single track that a Johnny Cash fan would consider essential. In fact, one of the best tracks on the disk, "Little Green Fountain," is a brief and snappy a cappella duet with June Carter Cash that doesn't sound anything like his more famous work. "One and One Makes Two" is a sweet song about sharing one's time and love, while his cover of "Grandfather's Clock" is quite good. But for every decent track there's another track that's just plain weird. The odd bear-raising philosophy outlined in "Tiger Whitehead," the overly maudlin "Old Shep" (clearly "Old Yeller" didn't scan as well), the jokey spoken-word "Why Is A Fire Engine Red" -- none of them are worth more than a couple spins. Kids ages 3 through 7 will probably appreciate this album the most. But if you're a Johnny Cash fan and you want your kids to appreciate Cash, you're probably better off putting in your own "adult" disks. Whether or not you fast-forward past "Ring of Fire" is up to you.
Boston-based folk-pop artist Vanessa Trien's debut kids' album, Hot Air Balloon (2006), is one of those albums for which your opinion depends upon your tolerance of earnestness in kids' music. There are plenty of adults dipping their toes into the ocean of kids' music for whom everything sounds like the old Simpsons group "Hooray For Everything" -- relentlessly peppy. And for those adults, their appreciation of this album may take awhile. Part of the reason for this is that Trien, who's also recorded for adults, has loaded the peppiest songs at the front of the CD. Sometimes the songs strike a nice balance -- the gorgeous leadoff pop ballad "Hello World," the bluegrass of "Good Morning!" And sometimes they veer over the line (or my line, at least), such as on the semi-rapped "Backward Alphabet Craze" or the cutesy reggae "Bluenanas and Bananaberries."
But all of a sudden, on track 8, "Wyona Wide," Trien strings together four songs that seem to come from an entirely different album. It's as if the first seven tracks were for the four-year-olds (and 3 of them were indeed written for a Montessori school at which Trien taught) and the last four were written for seven-year-olds. They're a little less peppy, and include the strong bluegrass tune "End of the Line" (probably my favorite cut on the album, and the least kid-centric) and the sun-dappled pop tune "Island in the Sun."
One constant, however, is the solid musicianship on the album -- it sounds fabulous. The 37-minute album is best for kids ages 3 through 8. You can listen to samples from the album here.
Those of you who have an earnestness intolerance should stay away from the CD. But if you're looking for a folkier Milkshake, or for solidly-arranged and played folk-pop kids music, Hot Air Balloon is worth a spin.
Chicago's 
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