Just in case you get into Austin early for the Saturday Town Lake Kids' Show (and, no, folks, "Mastodon" is most definitely not a kids-friendly band about dinosaurs), you can also hear Uncle Rock (or at least his real alter ego, Robert Burke Warren) on a panel discussing kids' music. Also on the panel, rock journalist Holly George-Warren (the panel's big draw, who has also written a kids' book on country music and happens to be Robert's wife), and a Razor & Tie label representative.
I do hope, at the very least, that at least the panelists will refrain from using the phrase "junior hipster."
Not Satisfied With One Year-End Music Poll?
Well, how about this one?
At the same time that Bill and Amy and I were putting together the Fids and Kamily awards, our Pazz and Jop-inspired poll focusing on kids and family music, the masterminds behind Idolator were planning their own poll.
And despite the fact that I'm from Arizona, the state that spawned the New Times chain that took over the Village Voice, the New York newspaper that hosted Pazz & Jop for more than 30 years, then unceremoniously dumped Robert Christgau, who ran it all that time, I wangled myself an invitation to participate in the new poll. (See this NPR story for more info on the controversy.)
You can see my album votes -- which are the same as my F&K votes -- here. (I though about reordering my votes in order to vote for albums more likely to get support from the rest of the poll, but thought better of it.)
You can also see my Top 10 singles votes, which, since it was put together in about 3 minutes before deadline, probably needs some explaining. Not that those aren't great songs, but I think I need to put together a proper Top 20 list.
Frankly, the most surprising thing about the poll? I wasn't the only person to vote for kids' music:
-- Dan Zanes got two votes (though at the moment they're listed as Catch That Train! -- that would be my vote -- and Stop That Train!).
-- Paul Westerberg also got two votes for his work on the Open Season soundtrack.
-- Unsurprisingly, Bruce Springsteen placed high (#39) with his We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Session CD (Top 20 for me).
-- Uncle Rock got a vote for Plays Well With Others.
-- The Gothic Archies got a vote for The Tragic Treasury.
-- Other votes came for High School Musical, Spongebob Squarepants, Aly & AJ, Jack Johnson, and Smoosh.
You can also find some "kids music" listed in the Top Singles section.
Next year, we're asking Robert Christgau and Chuck Sasha Frere-Jones to participate in Fids & Kamily.
I Can't Interview Everybody, You Know...
The Lovely Mrs. Davis steps into the interview breach with her first interview, a nice chat with Uncle Rock. Check it out.
Review: Plays Well With Others - Uncle Rock
You don't often get a second chance to make a first impression, the cliche goes, and that's especially true in children's music. A cheesy song is enough to make the parent quickly hit the eject button lest the children get too attached to music that drives the parent absolutely nuts; a poor album cover will doom the CD before it even reaches the player. So it was with Uncle Rock's 2nd CD, Plays Well With Others (2006), released a couple weeks ago. Uncle Rock? Just the name made me a little dubious. The logo? Designed by a child (the artist's son, as it turns out). And the opening song? Starts with the shouted phrase "Are you ready?" I was thisclose to hitting eject and never looking at the CD again, let alone listening to it.
And then within the space of about one minute, I was interested. The opening track, a general dancing around song, has a nice groove and includes the lyric "I'm gonna shake my head like the head of a mop." OK, you've got me back -- I'll stick around. Uncle Rock, as it turns out, is New York State-based Robert Burke Warren, who's played with both Wanda Jackson and RuPaul, among others. (I feel fairly certain that puts him in fairly small company.) Joined by a bunch of musicians on various tracks, he brings a loose roots-rock attitude to the CD, giving it a nice, organic feel. (The production is a lot better than the 4-track home recordings on his debut album.) The best cuts are those that are more fully realized instrumentally and lyrically. "Picnic in the Graveyard," for example, is a great kids' song about... er... death. Well, not exactly, but it's about Dia de los Muertos, a day of celebration where people have a picnic in the graveyard. "We're gonna sit in the grass / With people from the past / And we will not be afraid," goes the lyrics. It's got a great chorus backed by a horn section. The amusing "Gettin' Big Blues" is a bluesy number about how difficult it can be for kids to grow older ("I once had a T-shirt / the coolest thing around / but since I can't get it over my head / It's gonna be a hand-me-down" ... "I once had attention / I was an only child / But now there's a baby in the house / So I'm going wild... Pick me up / 'Cause I don't wanna walk") It works for both kids and their parents. The kids on the album generally add, instead of detract, from the mix.
Some songs ("Playin' Possum, "Shoe Bandit," "I'm a Pirate") don't work as well for me, they seem a little cheesy. But I give Warren credit for trying different things. He turns in a nice medley of "Magic Carpet Ride/Hey Bo Diddley/Magic Bus." And while the album's best cuts are the midtempo rockers, the closing ballad "Connected" is a sweet song.
The CD is most appropriate for kids age 3 through 8. You can hear clips of a few songs at Uncle Rock's MySpace page, though only one song, "Sugar Talkin'," is off the new CD. (Robert, update that page, pronto!) You can also hear samples at the album's CDBaby page.
Warren has made big strides in this, his second album. Teaches me to judge a book by its cover. He's got a little bit of Ralph's World and a lot more of Brady Rymer in him. Plays Well With Others is an album with some great cuts of kid-friendly roots-rock. Recommended.
