Are Rufus Leaking and Meg White an Item?

I haven't spent nearly enough time talking about the inspired weirdness of Pancake Mountain, but for now, these YouTube videos will have to do. And, frankly, with hipsters (The White Stripes, Wayne Coyne, Lily Allen, Lewis Black) at Bonnaroo, low-fi production values, and Rufus Leaking, the greatest goat this side of The Sound of Music, these clips pretty much tell you all you need to know. Rufus and Meg don't exchange many words, but I think it's love... Highlight on this one -- Wayne Coyne and friends singing "Daydream Believer" Highlight here -- "John the Revelator" duet with the White Stripes and Rufus (Thanks to Stereogum for the heads up.) For what it's worth, the video below, the Mountain's first (going back a number of years), is -- all due respect to They Might Be Giants -- the best vowel song ever. The Evens - "Vowel Movement" I tell you, this idea of culturally cool stars on TV shows ostensibly for kids is such an invention of this generation of parents. (Of course, at least we don't post Confederate flags in our music videos.)

Melissa Block's CD Changer and Ours Look Similar

To those of you visiting here from Melissa Block's post on CDs her family's been enjoying, welcome. You'll find over 140 reviews of CDs here (all accessible from the artist links on the right-hand side of the page), plus news and interviews squeezed in whenever I can find the time. For what it's worth, you can follow the links below to my reviews of the albums Melissa lists... -- Catch That Train! - Dan Zanes and Friends (review / interview) -- You Are My Little Bird - Elizabeth Mitchell (review) -- New Orleans Playground - Various Artists / Putumayo (review) -- Alphabet Songs - Steve Weeks (Vol. 2 review, Vol. 3 review) -- The Johnny Cash Children's Album - Johnny Cash (review) -- Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts - Sam Hinton (review) And thanks for stopping by!

Review: The Johnny Cash Children's Album

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.

Please Release Me (May 2006 Edition)

An admittedly selective (or perhaps not) list of upcoming children and family music releases: May 2: Beethoven's Wig 3 (Richard Perlmutter), Eat Every Bean and Pea on Your Plate (Daddy-A-Go-Go) May 9 (or 16): Catch That Train! (Dan Zanes and Friends) May 16 (without a doubt): Johnny Cash Children's Album (Johnny Cash, natch) May 20: Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales (Monty Harper) -- kids' librarians, check out www.ReadingSongs.com for more info May 23: Folk Playground (Putumayo, Various Artists) We'll be reviewing many of these CDs in the weeks ahead. We'll be reviewing a whole bunch of other stuff, too, so if the stuff above doesn't tickle your fancy-bone, maybe something else will. In addition to these releases, we expect new albums from a bunch of Zooglobble favorites, but we'll wait until we hear something more definite before mentioning it. Cautious are we. Talk like Yoda we do sometimes.

You Got Johnny Cash In My Children's Music...

... No, you got children's music in my Johnny Cash! People, people, people -- compromise is possible in these times of discord and strife. I present to you the Johnny Cash Children's Album. I hereby admit to being only a casual fan of Mr. Cash's music, but this album intrigues me... "But I wiped snot on a man in Reno once / Just to watch him cry..." (No, really, kid, it's a song about trains. You love trains. Let's go watch Thomas.)