Video: "Me on the Map" - Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could

Still image from Brady Rymer's "Me on the Map" video

Nothing fancy about this brand new video from Brady Rymer -- just a well-done video with shots of Rymer playing music by himself, making music with kids, and roasting marshmallows in the woods, fields, and beaches near his Long Island home.  A great match for the celebration of home --think Springsteen at his happiest -- from Rymer's latest album Press Play.

(Don't think he's gonna catch many fish with his mandolin, though.)

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - "Me on the Map" [YouTube]

Interview: Justin Roberts

Some of my favorite power-poppy songs for kids ("Recess," "Trick or Treat," My Imaginary Rhino") have come from kids music superstar Justin Roberts, but on his just-released album Lemonade, the Chicago-based musician took a slightly different songwriting approach.  For Lemonade, Roberts wrote and performed the music using the ukulele and took a more stripped-down approach to arranging it on record.

As a ukulele noodler, the idea that a longtime musician would pick up the ukulele as a new instrument and proceed to craft an entire album intrigued me.  In the interview, Roberts talk about which longtime kids duo got him into the ukulele, what it's like to write an album with a uke, and whether he'll be playing it in his upcoming fall shows (for example, in Albuquerque in November and New York's Symphony Space on December 10th).  Also, find out whether Roberts, like me, finds strumming to be the hardest ukulele skill to master.

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Zooglobble: What are your first ukulele memories?

Justin Roberts: Well, I always wanted to play the ukulele and I'd been talking with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer for years about their amazing Uke Fest in Maryland. I was also getting advice about which ukulele to buy. About a year and a half ago, Cathy and Marcy were staying with me while they played shows in Chicago. I was trying out Marcy's personal uke and said "I think I'll just buy one of these." It was her Kala signature model. And she said, "You can keep it!" This was the ukulele that she had been playing and recording with for years and Cathy and I were a bit shocked. But after I realized she was serious, I knew I would have to actually learn to play. It turned out to be in the inspiration behind most of the songs on Lemonade.

You said you wanted to take a different approach in writing Lemonade than your other recent efforts -- why is that?

I decided I wanted to try to write somewhat simpler songs with a little more space and not as much wall of sound production as I'd done in the past. I wanted it to be welcoming like hearing people play on a front porch. My songs from the first several records are usually 3 or 4 chords and I love songs like that. I just made that my goal when writing songs for this record. Now, you will hear songs that could have been on Recess ("Dodgeball," for example), but we recorded it with upright bass and cardboard box snare instead of with a giant rock band. 

How did you decide to make the ukulele a central focus of your writing?

It was hard writing Lemonade after making a musical ("Hansel & Gretel") where all the content was handed to me.  I'd been writing mainly on my computer since "Meltdown," and I still did it that way this time around, but I tried to start with a song I could simply play on  the uke alone without a million other instruments. That sort of simplicity continued to be the theme as we recorded.  The goal of simplicity also helped me define the musicians we ended up asking to perform on the album (Robbie Fulks, Nora O'Connor, etc.).

How is writing or crafting music on a uke different from how you’ve written music before?

Since I only knew a few chords and sometimes didn't even know what chords I was playing as I moved my fingers around it was like returning to the simplicity of just learning a new instrument.

Justin Roberts Lemonade album cover

This might be a difficult question, but how do you think the music on Lemonade turned out differently as a result of how you wrote the music?

Well, I wasn't thinking of a five-piece rock bank when I wrote the songs and when I recorded the demos. So, I was more like, "Let's add a few notes of piano here or a hand clap there," rather than starting with bass and drums and adding guitars and ten vocal harmonies. I just tried to give the songs what they needed to make them interesting without sticking to a power pop band formula.

What was the hardest thing for you to master on the ukulele -- fingering, strumming, or something else?

I'm still trying to master the strumming. It's hard to not mimic holding a pick when you play with your fingers. But some of it came very naturally like the riff in "Long As I Got You." Every time I picked up the uke, that melody got played.

Are you planning to play the ukulele live?

I already am. It's so fun. I love to change between that and guitar.

Any secret ukulele-playing tips to share?

There are a lot of secrets on the internet. Whenever I was looking for a chord or wanted to learn something new, I turned there. You can also take lessons from Marcy Marxer, the master herself, on sites like TrueFire, Peghead Nation and others. That's a great way to learn.

hoto credit: Todd Rosenberg

Video: "Two Trees, Old Friends" - Molly Ledford & Billy Kelly

This video for "Two Trees, Old Friends," the sweet and wistful song from Molly Ledford & Billy Kelly's incredible album Trees is... well, I hesitate to describe it too much, because you and your kids will only get one chance to see it for the first time, and I firmly believe in the power of wonder and awe.

And I think that's what you might feel when you see this for the first time.

(Tip of the hat to Fort Psych, the Atlanta-based company who put together the video, and Lyon Forrest Hill, who directed and designed it.)

Molly Ledford & Billy Kelly - "Two Trees, Old Friends" [Vimeo]

Video: "Love Light Shine" - KB Whirly feat. Mista Cookie Jar

So for those of you needing a little positivity and sunshine as we head towards the short, cloudy days of winter, I present to you KB Whirly and Mista Cookie Jar teaming up for a bicoastal jam.  A little soul, a little hip-hop, and a bunch of flowers, this brand-new single will make you and your kids feel allllllll right.

KB Whirly feat. Mista Cookie Jar - "Love Light Shine" [YouTube]

Video: "Cousin Party" - Karen K (World Premiere!)

Karen K -- AKA Karen Kalafatas -- doesn't make a lot of videos, but when she does, they're slick and they're fun.  Consider "(I Woke Up) In a Firetruck," which delighted a bunch of firetruck-obsessed preschoolers and their families and, as a result, she won the 2014 KidVid Tournament.

While that song and video featured her band the Jitterbugs, for her next album, The Blue Bike Chronicles, she's going solo.  She's also pitching her songs at an older audience, the sometimes underserved-by-kindie pre-tween population.

Today I'm pleased to be world-premiering one of the songs and videos off the forthcoming album.  It's for "Cousin Party," which turns up the music full Nashville.  The video, too, is just as slick, and features lots of party mischief by a cavalcade of cousins.  Good, poppy stuff all around.

Karen K - "Cousin Party" [YouTube]

Itty-Bitty Review: Ear Snacks: Songs from the Podcast - Andrew & Polly

Ear Snacks: Songs from the Podcast cover

Readers of the site over the past year or so know I've paid a lot of attention to podcasts made for kids, and one of the most delightful of the bunch is Ear Snacks, a funny and occasionally surreal podcast for preschoolers from Los Angeles-based duo Andrew & Polly.

They've now collected the best tracks featured on the podcast's first season in the prosaically titled Ear Snacks: Songs from the Podcast.  That title is the most straightforward and boring thing about the entire album whose unifying theme, if anything, is silliness.  There's a meta-song for preschoolers about dancing to songs ("Dancing Pants," featuring fellow L.A. musician Mista Cookie Jar), a swinging song about getting the mail ("Mail," natch), and the crunchy pop of "I Wanna Be a Giraffe."  And I haven't even mentioned until now the stone-cold classic kindie classic track "Grapes."  It's not total silliness -- listen to the gorgeous "How Can You Tell If It's Going To Rain?" -- but the meter swings more to the giddy rather than somber.  (Just listen Andrew and Polly hiding in the hidden track at the end...)  I liked Odds & Ends, the duo's previous album that featured some songs from early podcast episodes, but I found the songwriting here to be a step beyond that -- they sound quite confident in their own, quirky voice.

At 37 minutes in length, the album is just the right length for the 2-to-6-year-olds who are the album (and podcast's) target audience.  (A shout-out as well to the liner notes, filled with "Snacktivities" listeners of any age can do using just their creative brains.)  Filled with goofiness leavened with just enough sweetness, Ear Snacks: Songs from the Podcast is a collection of music you don't need the podcast to appreciate.  It's a fabulous compilation of more than a year's worth of creativity, a great bunch of songs for listening at any time.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review. We also both participate on the board of Kids Listen, an advocacy group for kids' podcasts.