My Annual Post (Again) About "Felt Around the World"

Three years ago, on April 1, 2012, I published one of my favorite all-time posts here on the site, the world premiere of "Felt Around the World," which was "We Are the World" for a new (puppet) generation.

Last year I reported that the world's greatest song performed by Fabricated Americans has generated more than $2,200 for St. Jude's. Contributions keep trickling in, and you can still purchase the track at CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon. Thanks to Recess Monkey, who coordinated the video and the musical contributions from our puppet friends, and folks who purchased the track and played it on radio both terrestrial and satellite.

This still makes me smile - hope it does for you, too.

Hand Aid - "Felt Around the World" [YouTube]

Kindie's Ten Best One-Hit Wonders

Kids music has its fair share of workhorses -- artists like Recess Monkey and Joanie Leeds and Dean Jones who consistently release albums. And of course there are artists like Raffi and Bill Harley and Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer whose careers have spanned decades and who are still releasing music relevant to an entirely new generation of families.

And then there are the one-hit wonders -- the musicians and bands who released albums for families… and were never heard from ever again.

Well, not in any existential sense, just in the kindie world. The reasons for recording a single album for kids and families, then deciding to abandon that particular creative vein are, no doubt, as complicated -- or simple -- as they are for any choices made by people. Perhaps they hated doing it, it didn't fill them creatively, it didn't make enough money, they didn't have enough time -- these are the complications of life, generally. (As is the work of keeping up a website -- in a few cases, the sites have lapsed, a clear sign that the artists aren't returning to the kindie fold.)

But it doesn't mean that we can't be disappointed that they never came back. So here's a list of my ten favorite single-shot kindie albums. I would love to have to take these off the list for technical reasons, i.e., they come back with a second album.

A couple definitional points:

1. I chose not to include albums from "adult" artists who released one album for families -- think of folks like Harry Nilsson or Carole King or Barenaked Ladies (though I keep hearing rumors that they're working on kindie album #2) as their family recordings were neither their first nor last recordings. This is a loose restriction -- it's painful not being able to put the Barenaked Ladies or Medeski Martin & Wood's albums on this list -- but if I didn't impose it this list would be long and useless. (Perhaps what I really need is another list that reflects those artists.)

2. I gave at least a couple year window -- meaning, if someone's released just one album, but that was within the past couple years, then they were ineligible. Unless you're Recess Monkey, churning out an album every two years is a normal timeframe.

Here, then, in alphabetical order, is my list:

Listen To This: "Spring Day" - Karen K and the Jitterbugs

Karen K and the Jitterbugs' "Spring Day"

As a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, I am careful not to talk about how wonderful the weather is on social media because I don't want to seem like I'm taunting my friends in more northern climes in the winter months. (Really! I actually prefer the weather in northern climes!)

I say all that as a way of introducing "Spring Day," a brand new song from Karen K and the Jitterbugs. From its opening guitar riff aping Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" to the abundance of "la la las," it's a pure pop confection celebrating the arrival (please!) of spring days. But as I look at weather forecasts of highs in the mid-90s this weekend, forgive me if I'm already dreaming of songs celebrating fall. Stream the song below and pay what you'd like for the track.

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "Spring Day" [Bandcamp]

<a href="http://karenkjitterbugs.bandcamp.com/track/spring-day">Spring Day by Karen K &amp; the Jitterbugs</a>

Review: The Peculiar Tales of the S.S. Bungalow - Big World Audio Theatre

Let's give a hearty "Ahoy, mateys!" for the crew of Big World Audio Theatre, whose debut story and music collection The Peculiar Tales of the S.S. Bungalow set sail earlier this year.

(Let me also promise you that the rest of this review will be free of sailing-related puns.)

Based in Portland, Oregon and headed up by Laki Karavias and Jason Reuter, the Theatre (really, a loose collective of area musicians and artists) turned to Kickstarter to raise monies for the production and release of the album. The result is a lovingly crafted album and physical product that tells the story of Captain Gregory and the S.S. Bungalow's trek across the Atlantic Ocean to find the Lullaby Islands and the treasure found there.

Voice actor Kevin Barbare narrates the story, which is filled with enough dramatic plot turns, gentle good humor, atmospheric sound effects, and occasional Princess Bride-style meta-commentary to keep the target audience hooked and any adults tuned in amused. The chamber pop-folk, featuring the occasional stringed instrument, horns, and pedal steel, runs the gamut from peppy to slow as befitting the story's twists and turns (sometimes in the same song, as in "Life Is Good." "Follow the Albatross" sounds like it could have been culled from an Uncle Tupelo album. One song, "Aquinas," commemorating a long-loved pet, is particularly sweet and moving in a way few kindie songs are. While the songs are meant to serve a story, speaking as someone who primarily listened to the songs alone, they stand up well on their own.

The album is most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9. The story version of the album is nearly 75 minutes long; a second disk featuring only the song tracks clocks in at about 32 minutes. (You can listen to the whole thing here.) The physical version, featuring Ward Jenkins' illustrations, is solidly packaged -- for multiple reasons, the CD would make a lovely gift. (I have no doubt that if they ever chose to go the vinyl route, that would look - and sound - splendid as well.)

The Peculiar Tales of the S.S. Bungalow was clearly a labor of love, with a fine attention to detail. I would love to see one of those multinational entertainment conglomerates figure out how to spread this far and wide, though I know that's unlikely. Instead, we'll just have to hope that Big World enjoyed this labor of love enough to make them want to attempt another. Definitely recommended.

Note: I was given a copy for possible review.

Video: "The National Tree of England" - Molly Ledford and Billy Kelly

Spring has sprung, and that means it's time for the release of Trees, the brand new album from Molly Ledford and Billy Kelly.

[Commence celebration.]

I encourage you to read my interview with the duo, and listen to the whole darn album, but before, after, or during (maybe not during) doing so, you can also watch a Brand New Video animated by Mr. Kelly himself.

[Commence celebration.]

I really love this song.

Molly Ledford & Billy Kelly - "The National Tree of England" [YouTube]

Review: Watching the Nighttime Come - Suz Slezak

Lullaby albums can be a nice way for an artist who typically records music for adults to slide into the kids music world -- maybe record a few public-domain lullabies and/or some love songs appropriate for tender ears, and with relatively little change, presto, you have a lullaby album! The potential downside is that you get a bunch of songs recorded too loudly and with little of the magic that makes parents repeatedly put good lullaby albums back into the CD player night after night.

Suz Slezak certainly could have gone that route. Along with her husband David Wax, she's part of the folk-roots rock band David Wax Museum, but Slezak chose to record and release Watching the Nighttime Come, her first kids' music album, a lullaby album, under her own name. She could have easily gone the route I outlined above, but instead this new album is remarkable for how much Slezak the vocalist fades into the background and lets Slezak the musician step forward. I tend to think of the start of the album as being the aural equivalent of the album cover -- playful as day's last light fades and, well, waiting for nighttime. Slezak's songs "Where Did You Come From" and "You Got Love" are dreamy tracks, but ones on which her vocals take something approximating center stage.

As daylight fades, however, the overall feel of the music, rather than anything vocally-based, becomes most important. The heart of the album -- "Jessie's Waltz," "Tallis Canon," and "Caballito Blanco" -- are, respectively, an instrumental, a 6-minute version of a 450-year-old hymn, and a Spanish-language lullaby. Those are not the artistic choices of someone who just wants to create a lullaby album with a snap of her fingers -- those are the choices of an artist who's deliberately creating a hushed mood. That mood on the album eventually breaks somewhat, as all nighttimes break. Here it's with a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye."

The album is going to be most appropriate for kids ages 0 through 5, but like most good lullaby albums, it's far more all-ages than a lot of kids music. You can stream the 31-minute album here.

This is a somewhat idiosyncratic lullaby album, and if you're looking for renditions of the same set of lullabies you might typically hear on collections of sleepy songs, you should probably move on. But I think this is exactly the kind of idiosyncratic that regular readers of the site will dig a lot, and even if you think you want yet another version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on CD, I'm pretty sure that Watching the Nighttime Come will fit in nicely amidst your family's CD collection. Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.