Intro to Kindie: Bill Childs (Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child)

So a month or two ago, I was talking with a fellow kids' music person about my upcoming series on best kids music albums (here's the one on best kids music albums for new parents), and he said that he'd been thinking about a similar question, of how to introduce new listeners to kids music. He described it as the musical equivalent of an "elevator speech" -- if you only have an hour or so, how do you grab someone who's not familiar with the genre, make them want to hear more?

I thought that was an excellent idea for a new series here, and so today I'm pleased as punch to kick off this new "Intro to Kindie" series with the person whose turn of phrase sent me down this path -- Bill Childs.

Bill wears many hats in the kids music field, but the specific hat he had on when he was thinking about introducing new audiences to kindie and kids music generally was as the long-time proprietor of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. His radio show will celebrate its tenth anniversary later this summer, and part of that celebration includes a new flagship radio station, Austin's KUTX. Starting May 9, STR will air on Sundays at 6 PM, and Bill's been thinking a lot about what will air that first episode and beyond.

While more folks will be sharing their lists as part of this series in the weeks and months to come, I'm really happy to have Bill lead this off.

When Stefan suggested that I kick off this series, I was super excited, and then I realized… oh dear, this is a tough project. So instead of actually tackling that project, I’ve just included the songs I’ve picked for the first two weeks of Spare the Rock airing on KUTX here in Austin, which is probably just about the same thing.

Let me start it off with some caveats:

This isn’t my “best of family music.”
The songs I picked don’t (necessarily) represent the songs I like best of those artists.
It’s not even necessarily a definitive introduction to our show! You’d have to also listen to the non-kids’ songs I included for that (plus the in-studios — we had Mates of State and Carrie Rodriguez for the first two weeks).
The playlist for our second week on KUTX is still in flux, so what you see below might not even represent what I claim it represents.
There are many — many, many — artists I could have included and felt great about including, so anyone’s absence from this shouldn’t be read as anything. At all. Top of my head: Okee Dokee Brothers, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, Mister G, Mista Cookie Jar, Key Wilde & Mr Clarke, Moona Luna, The Jimmies, and good lord so many more that I shouldn’t even really try, should I? That’s a fool’s errand.

My goal, and I think this tracks Stefan’s request, was to put together something that would give someone new to the modern world of music for families a sense of the breadth and depth of what is in store for them, in genres, personalities, styles, tones, and so on. This particular list is Austin-centric, since I put it together specifically to welcome an Austin audience, but I think it works for anyone.

It’s in alphabetical order. (What, like I’m going to try ranking them? I’m not crazy.)

Asylum Street Spankers - Sliver

The Board of Education - The Lonely Tomato

Bunny Clogs - 3 Dogs and a Pancake

CandyBand - Down By The Bay

Jonathan Coulton - The Princess Who Saved Herself

The Deedle Deedle Dees - Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way

Lucky Diaz & the Family Jam Band - Pinata Attack

Frances England - Mind of My Own

Lori Henriques - The World is a Curious Place to Live

Sara Hickman - Middle of a Little Country Road

Koo Koo Kanga Roo - Shake It Well (feat. POS)

Lead Belly - Rock Island Line

Lunch Money - Tiny Dinosaurs

Elizabeth McQueen - This Little Piggy

Milkshake - Baltimore

Elizabeth Mitchell - Lovely Day

Willie Nelson - Won’t You Ride in My Little Red Wagon

The Pop Ups - Outside Inside

Ralph’s World - The Great Outdoors

Justin Roberts - Meltdown

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - Gotta Be Me

Shine & the Moonbeams - High Five

Sippy Cups - Springtime Fantastic

They Might Be Giants - Thinking Machine (and others)

Dan Zanes & Friends - Side by Side (feat. Father Goose)

Interview: Adam Levy (Bunny Clogs)

Adam Levy made his first foray into the world of kids music with his band Bunny Clogs way back in late 2008 with the album More! More! More!. (That band name, by the way? It's a pun on Levy's primary musical outlet, his band The Honeydogs.) That debut album had a distinctive, eclectic sound and some out-of-nowhere lyrics and musical tidbits, aided no doubt by the fact that Levy created the album with assistance from his two daughters, grade schoolers at the time.

Fast-forward six years or so. Levy's daughters are in or approaching high school, and the follow-up album I'd never expected would happen showed up. Whales Can't Whistle is maybe a little more streamlined, slightly poppier than its predecessor, but nobody would ever mistake the new album for bland, cookie-cutter music.

Levy recently sent some thoughts via e-mail about the latest album, musical parenting memories, and the good and bad of making an album (and playing live) with your kids.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories (growing up)?

Adam Levy: My parents didn't have a big record collection... but what they had got played a lot. I used to dance/march around the house with a Monkees ukelele guitar, air uke-ing to Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass's "Going Places." My hip Aunt Judy brought Rubber Soul to my folks in 1967. That got major air time for a few years.

What are your first parenting musical memories?

Big sister Esther was breach in her mom's stomach. We put Bach cello preludes on headphones to mom's belly for a few days and she flipped around... the girls' mom and I listened to music constantly. Lots of old funk and soul. I remember my girls going bananas for Fountains of Wayne's "Red Dragon Tattoo."

How did the first Bunny Clogs album come about? What inspired you to make that album?

I had just gotten my first ProTools studio rig set up at home in 2003. Esther would have been about 4 and Ava Bella 2. I would try to entertain the girls as I was figuring out the equipment and would make these danceable, amusing kids' songs. The girls would chime and sing and giggle and I'd record everything and made it a family affair. I kept writing these songs in the midst of, and as a break from, more "serious" musical endeavors. Friends would come over with kids for dinner and I'd play them the songs and folks would laugh and the kids would jump around like little squirmies. After a while I just thought, "maybe I have something" -- the songs were more absurdist, dance-beat and adult-friendly, less acoustic-folky than most kids' music. It alwasy took a back seat to my main songwriting muse, The Honeydogs... but eventually I just resolved to finish it and put it out in 2009.

What led you to make Whales Can't Whistle an animal kingdom-themed album?

We made a food-related record for the first one. I always incorporate the household characters and stories and silly phrases we used into the music. We are very into animals at our house and have been since the girls were small. I find it easier to write when I create some parameters and goals.

Your daughters were actively involved in making this new album -- what was their biggest contribution? Was Isaac's participation anticipated, or more of a surprise?

The girls are singing all over the record. Ava Bella (14) even recorded herself in some cases! She also designed the cover art. Isaac's participation was a necessity. He's 12 and a natural. He plays like an adult. Amazing.

What was it like having your daughters participate so much in what you do as a career? I'm assuming it was lots of fun, but did it also lead to tensions at times?

It's amazing. We've been performing publicly together since they were about 10 (Esther) and 8 (Ava Bella). Sometimes I have to encourage them to perform by increasing pay... sometimes they are not up for it. They tease me a lot. I get back at them by being a complete dork on stage. Ava Bella who is 14 now has expressed more interest in music than her big sister. I have loved watching her do musical things that are not with family.

You wear many different musical hats -- what particular musical itch does Bunny Clogs let you scratch?

Bunny Clogs fills a need to simply have fun making music and sharing it with my own children. Much of my music is conceptual, cerebral and sometimes deals with serious subjects. After I lost my son in 2012, the need to find joy in the midst of great grief and life-reassessment became very necessary. Last summer the girls spent a couple months leisurely making the record. We had so much fun.

What 3 (or 1 or 5) "not-for-kids" albums (from any artist) did your kids absolutely groove to growing up?

As I mentioned, the house the girls grew up in oozed music... all of The Beatles stuff. They have fond memories of Burt Bacharach's Butch Cassidy soundtrack. The Jackson 5.

What's next for Bunny Clogs (and you)?

I'd love to do some kind of animated film [and/or] a book. Depending on the girl's energy, perhaps more touring. As mentioned I'm ready to be Reuben Kincaid to Ava Bella's musical projects.

Photos by Youa Vang.

Video: "Henry Box Brown" - Lloyd H. Miller (World Premiere!)

I'm a longtime fan of Lloyd Miller's song "Henry Box Brown," liking it when Miller first recorded it with his band The Deedle Deedle Dees for their 2007 album Freedom in a Box. For his new album Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!, Miller re-recorded the track, giving the song a sped-up klezmer spin.

Now he's got a brand new video to go along with the new version, and it tells the story of the slave who escaped to freedom in the North by, yes, mailing himself in a box. And it does so via a craft version of Brown by Miller's daughter Hazel. It's cute and effective. (Also: Google Maps - hah!) Enjoy this world premiere!

Lloyd H. Miller - "Henry Box Brown" [YouTube]

Itty-Bitty Review: Turkey Andersen - Turkey Andersen

The debut EP is the proof-of-concept of the recorded music industry. It's not intended to be perfect, it's just supposed to be an introduction, something that says, this could work - this does work.

Such is the case with the debut self-titled EP from Turkey Andersen. Who is Turkey Andersen? Well, I don't think he and Northampton, Massachusetts musician Henning Ohlenbusch have ever been seen together at the same time. More importantly, though, in the course of 8 songs and 16 minutes, these songs put smiles on faces and quirky, poppy earworms in brains. "If a Sandwich Was a Sandwich" is the most brilliant 30-second song ever ("If a sandwich was a pillow then the bread would be the pillow case," the song starts out, and maintains that level of rational absurdity for another 25 seconds). The centerpiece of the album is "Time Travel Clothes," all about the trouble you can get into if you wear the wrong clothes while traveling through time. (We've all been there, right?) I also find "Hot and Stuffy" very funny and also educational about how to get a room to the right temperature.

You can stream the album here. It'll be most amusing to kids ages 3 through 7. Its combination of TMBG quirkiness and songwriting with Jonathan Richman-esque earnestness and vocals is pretty much instantly appealing. If this debut is proof-of-concept, then I think it's proven that Turkey Andersen needs some investors. More, please. Definitely recommended.

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

Itty-Bitty Review: Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue - Papa Crow

I praise the willingness of musicians to follow wherever their idiosyncratic muse takes them, and by that measure, few kids musicians would receive higher praise than Michigan's Jeff Krebs, aka Papa Crow. It's not that he changes musical styles dramatically from album to album -- you can hear his gentle folk-pop on his fine albums Things That Roar and Full Moon, Full Moon and you can also hear it on his EP about farting and tooting, What Was That Sound?. It's the subjects that are wildly different.

You can also hear his folk-pop on his latest EP, Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue. His subject this time? The nonsense poems of 19th century writer Edward Lear. Accompanied with nothing but his vintage 1947 Gibson guitar, Krebs tells these stories through melodies he's written for the album. Lear might be most well-known for his poem "The Owl and the Pussycat," which Krebs includes here, but the strongest songs to my ear are the leadoff track, the sea-shanty-like "The Jumblies," and the blues-y "Calico Pie." (Special shout-out to Krebs for recording the 110-line "The Courtship of the Yonghy Bonghy Bo," which Krebs reports took him 54 attempts to reach a suitable take.)

The album will be most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8. You can stream and purchase the 19-minute EP here. Kids will need to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy the songs here -- they do require some attention -- and these may work better mixed in with other songs, rather than in one set. But it's a fun album nonetheless. Settings of 150-year-old poetry to song is probably not the way to kindie fame and fortune, but I'm glad that Papa Crow has chosen to explore this particular side path. Recommended.

Note: I was given a (digital) copy of the album for possible review.

Best Kids Music Albums for New Parents

Although I run a well-respected kids music site (psst, it's this one), it's not something I'm constantly trumpeting. (I still get co-workers walking into my office with a quizzical expression the morning after an All Things Considered review airs saying, "I was driving home last night and I heard this familiar voice on the radio…") As a result, I'm often in the situation of explaining this interest of mine to co-workers or neighbors, and it's not uncommon for the following question to come up:

"So what albums do you recommend for my kid/niece/grandson?"

Now, I probably should have developed a concise answer by now. But when you've been listening to this music critically for more than a decade, trying to distill that knowledge into, say, three albums is difficult, and probably a little unfair as it leans too heavily on my own personal tastes.

Having said that, giving that response doesn't do the person asking the question any good. So I've decided to dive in and provide a list. I'm actually going to provide a series of lists, but the one I want to start out with is for new parents and their infants, toddlers, and maybe early preschoolers -- basically, kids ages 0 through 3.

There are lots of great kids musicians whose music isn't specifically targeted towards that age group. I love Justin Roberts' music, for example, but most of his music is pitched at a slightly older age group. (Believe me, when I get to the next age group, there will definitely be a Justin Roberts album in that collection.) The albums for this age group feature more simple, classic songs you may already know or faintly remember.

Now, there's no way I can limit this list to the number of albums I've featured. (For example, I was struggling immensely until I realized that I could make lullaby albums their own category. That'll be a future post.) So I've suggested some possible music series if you think my list is too limited or not diverse enough in its musical scope.

With all of that said, here's my list, organized in no particular order -- and if you want to add any for consideration, please feel free to do in the comments.

Raffi: The Singable Songs Collection (1976-1979) -- OK, this is cheating slightly, since this is actually a 3-CD set featuring the kids music superstar's first three albums. I've always suspected that people who make fun of Raffi have never actually listened to more than five minutes of his music (or have only listened to his later albums, which sound more dated in parts and a little more preachy). These 3 albums, particularly the first 2, Singable Songs for the Very Young and More Singable Songs for the Very Young, are a mix of traditional kids' songs and Raffi originals, arranged with a light but not too-light touch and with actual instruments. Raffi has the best male singing voice in kids' music (even today), and here, it rarely sounds treacly. Just try it -- I'm pretty sure you'll be fine with it and (more importantly) your kids will probably swoon.

Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower: You Are My Sunshine (2002) -- I might be accused of sticking too close to home -- Mitchell was the start of my kindie journey -- if it weren't for the fact that everyone else adores her as well. As with many artists on this list, narrowing it down to just one album has flummoxed me. (Really, I've been staring at a blank spot for the album title for far too long.) What I really want Mitchell to do is to release her first 3 albums as the You Are My Collection, named for the fact that those first albums all start with the words "You Are My..." I slightly prefer the album after this one, You Are My Little Bird, but think it's pitched at a slightly older age group, maybe starting at age 2 or 3. But if you want to substitute that one for Sunshine, I won't judge.

Old Town School of Folk Music: Songs for Wiggleworms (2000) -- Saying that singing to your child is important isn't some dramatic statement on my part, because early childhood experts agree that it's a Good Thing. But I think it's important to have a CD that helps model singing songs to the very young in addition to music that takes those songs and performs them in more varied and elaborately ways (such as these other disks). There are about 3 dozen songs here, arranged very simply so that the focus is on singer themselves and the lyrics of the song. The new parent who is tentative about singing to his or her child should feel more confident after listening to this, and the kids will be drawn to the renditions as well.

Laurie Berkner: Whaddaya Think of That? (1997) -- The closest we have to Raffi's spiritual heir. She's generally been content to write music for preschoolers and not have her music change to address an older age group. She's also the biggest kindie superstar, able to draw large crowds for her occasional shows. In part, that's due to her presence on Jack's Big Music Show on Sprout in the mid-to-late-2000s. But it's also due to the earworms of hooks she writes and the verve and humor with which she delivers them. You could always make your own Laurie Berkner mix on iTunes, or maybe get the follow-up Buzz Buzz instead, but this'll do you just fine.

Caspar Babypants: Sing Along! (2011) --The adults reading this may be more familiar with Chris Ballew's run with the Presidents of the United States of America, but I think it can be legitimately argued that 20 years from now his most lasting impact will be on kids music. What's most impressive in his career making music for families is the sheer consistency of his polished and reformulated folk music for the 21st century -- generally an album every less-than-a-year, all of high quality. It took me a long time to try to figure out which CB album I should list here (other contenders: More Please! and, well, just about any of the originals). What I'm saying is that you should just get a Caspar Babypants album and don't sweat the details too much.

Now, as I noted above, limiting your choices to these is, well, a little foolish. I could easily list another 5 or 6, and then complain that I couldn't limit myself to 10 or so, and I think you can see where that is leading to. So instead I'll list a few series that offer a broad range of options for the very youngest for you to dip into.

Smithsonian Folkways: In addition to Elizabeth Mitchell, Folkways has an amazing collection of recordings for kids. Some of them are more appropriate for a slightly older kindergartener-ish (the many Pete Seeger albums come to mind), but Woody Guthrie's and Suni Paz's records and the many albums of the legendary Ella Jenkins are targeted at the under-5 crowd.

Putumayo Kids: Just like its "parent," the kids offshoot of the Putumayo label scours the globe for interesting sounds, and many of the resulting themed albums are a nice way to dip into the music of a non-American culture. The "Playground" albums are geared toward a slightly older audience, but their "Dreamland" albums feature lullabies from around the world (including, sometimes, the English-speaking world).

Music Together: Having spent a number of years with my kids in this music-participation series, I'm biased in that I'm familiar and comfortable with the songs on their many in-class CDs. They've collected favorites on 3 different CDs they sell to the public, and I find the sound -- engaged vocals, restrained but not simplistic production -- to be reminiscent of Raffi's.

Baby Loves...: They started out as Baby Loves Disco, producing dance afternoons for kids barely old enough to walk (and their older siblings and parents). And they've sort of returned to that. But in between, they produced 4 albums -- disco, jazz, hip-hop, and salsa -- that are worth checking out for your almost-preschooler.