Every year I wonder whether there are going to be any musicians who decide to turn their attention to making music for kids, and every year I am not disappointed. It's a silly attitude to take on my part, because doing these sorts of follow-up looks back at the year gives me hope and tells me I should stop wondering, that right now somebody I've never heard of -- and who may never have heard of these artists or any of the other artists on this site -- is for the first time recording music for kids and families that's going to be great.
Here are my top 10 debut albums from 2013, with "2013" defined as being "between November 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013," coinciding with the Fids & Kamily 2013 voting year. Sometimes debuts drop through the cracks thanks to the slow pace of reviewing, so albums like Vered's Good Morning My Love and Helen Austin's Always Be a Unicorn (which were October 2012 releases, and so just miss the November 1, 2012 starting point) somehow didn't make my list of top debuts from from 2012, either. And of course, there are post-September 30, 2013 albums like Red Yarn's The Deep Woods and Introducing Jelly of the Month Club that I would not be surprised to see on this list next year.
One other caveat -- there some debuts from experienced kindie folks who made music with new friends. Debuts from Underbirds, Todd & Cookie, and more might very well have made this list were it not for the fact that those participants, artists like Todd McHatton, Morgan Taylor, and Mista Cookie Jar, aren't new to the kids music world.
So here they are, in alphabetical order. It was hard picking the list this year -- there were a couple albums that I thought would make it but somehow got squeezed out by all the other wonderful talent here. Which must mean that there are a lot of musicians who think that trying their hand at making great music for kids is a worthwhile endeavor.
