Haley Bonar's late 2009 kids' EP Sing With Me was one of the most surprising and gratifying (and too brief) releases of the year, heartfelt and featuring Bonar's clear and beautiful voice. It's a combination that worked just as well on her most recent album for adults, 2008's Big Star.

I'm always interested in getting a wide range of perspectives on the family music scene, from those who have been in it for many years to those who've only peered in the window just a little bit. I also like talking with cool musicians. So this interview meets both those standards. Bonar talked with me a couple weeks ago as she was on the road, moving back to Minneapolis from Portland, Oregon, sharing with me musical stories of growing up, life sharing music as a nanny, and the beauty of awkward dancing.

Zooglobble: What are your musical memories growing up?
Haley Bonar: I conducted a lot of plays. We had a Schoenhut piano. I would make my mom play while I danced in a circle. We weren't super-musical, but we listened to it a lot. I never shut up.

When did you decide to become a musician, to make it a career?
Hmmm.... I didn't really know that it was a real career. A career means making money and I don't make money. Of course, now I'm super-rich [chuckles]. No, there wasn't a single defining moment.

You worked as a nanny -- how would you work music into your daily life?

Continue reading "Interview: Haley Bonar" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Massachusetts-based sisters Nerissa and Katryna Nields, the driving force behind the band named after the them, have been making music for a living for about two decades now, but have been singing for most of their lives. The centrality of music to their lives growing up is obvious on their two fine albums for families, All Together Singing in the Kitchen and Rock All Day Rock All Night. They also lead HooteNanny, a music class for preschoolers and their parents and have just released their first DVD, Organic Farm.

Nerissa answered a few questions in the not-too-distant past about some of her musical memories, the good and bad parts about recording music with your relatives, and suggestions for raising a musical household...

Zooglobble: I realize you've discussed this a little more than most folks (since you did an entire album with your father), but what are your musical memories growing up?
Nerissa Nields: SO many wonderful memories, but I'll share this one. I was sick with the chicken pox, and it was the worst day of the itching, fever, etc. I was seven years old, lying in bed, moaning. My father came in with his guitar to cheer me up and started playing "The Streets of Laredo," which is a very sad song and involves a dying cowboy. When he got to the end of it, I moaned, "No! That's too sad!" So he said, "OK. How's this?" and made up these words on the spot:
I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy
You can see by my outfit that I'm a cowboy too
You can see by our outfits that we are both cowboys
Get yourself an outfit and be a cowboy too!

When did you decide you wanted to become a musician?
When I was seven years old I learned "I Know A Heartache When I See One" off the AM Country radio station my parents listened to, and my mother was so impressed with my singing that she commented on it. I decided then and there to be a singer.

What are the good parts about recording music with family members? What are the not-so-good parts?

Continue reading "Interview: Nerissa Nields (The Nields)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For being such a big fan of Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke, I'm a bit ashamed to say that I just unearthed this interview I did with Key Wilde a few months back. I could've sworn I published this just after the release of the excellent debut record Rise and Shine. Man, it's been a hectic three months. (In related news, apparently the Saints won the Super Bowl?)

Oh, well, better late than never in that the interview below gives you, dear reader, more info on the past, present, and future of one half of one of my favorite kids music bands.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories?
Key Wilde: We were always singing together as a family. Constantly. We used to drive from Texas to North Carolina every summer and I remember all of us singing in the car the entire way. My dad and his two brothers sang barbershop harmonies together and as a little kid I was always trying to find a part and sing along with them. They knew hundreds of songs – bawdy college tunes, wacky folk songs, obscure standards – songs that made you laugh. It was always a joy to sing them over and over again and I still remember them all. We have a large extended family and to this day every family gathering culminates in a big songfest – a wonderful tradition I’m happy to pass along to my own kids.

My dad played piano and insisted that the kids take formal lessons. We all rebelled at the time but are now grateful for the experience.

How did you get into being an illustrator for a living?
I studied fine arts – painting – at Parsons in New York and when I graduated I really didn’t want to do any commercial illustration at all. I found a great loft in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) a few years before the massive migration and undertook all sorts of ridiculous part time work in order to make the rent and carve out time for painting. I never promoted myself as an illustrator but eagerly accepted any assignments that came my way. Over the years my “survival” work has evolved from teaching, bartending and running a muffin store among other things to art direction, design and illustration – all things that I really love doing. And I’ve continued to develop as a “fine artist” on the side which has always been a deep-rooted goal. And of course the music has always been a constant distraction.

How did you meet and start making music with Mr. Clarke?

Continue reading "Interview: Key Wilde (Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A couple days ago, Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove sent out his latest newsletter with a most interesting proposition -- please help fund his next CD:

As some of you may know, the landscape of the music industry has changed dramatically over the past five years. As the giant labels have faltered or collapsed with the rapid decline of retail album sales, independent artists have emerged as the leaders of the changing tide. Where some see a shriveled industry on life support, I see opportunity and challenge. And I love challenges.

So, I'm asking you to join me as we embark on an adventure into new territory. I have a goal of raising enough money to pay for outstanding musicians, promotion, production, and a Grammy-nominated producer for my new record. Please help me make this dream a reality. You've already been a big part of my success, so please consider taking part in the production of this project. You'd buy the new CD anyway, right? So, consider this a pre-purchase plan.

While this sort of "crowdfunding" has been around for awhile (I wasn't the only one for whom Kickstarter came immediately to mind), it's the first time it's been explicitly used in the kids music scene. (The closest Kickstarter project was this successful project which sought funding to make a soundtrack by a tween indie rock band to accompany a tween indie rock novel.)

So when I got the newsletter I immediately shot off some questions to Jim, whose answers I think are pretty much required reading for artists (and probably family music fans in general), regardless of whether or not they want to follow Cosgrove on this particular path.

Zooglobble: Aside from the general upheaval in the music industry, what specifically led you to crowdfund your next CD?
Jim Cosgrove: Challenging times call for creative solutions. So, rather than putting the whole thing on credit, we looked at other models and found that many bands in other genres have been successful in getting their fans directly involved.

I meet parents all the time who thank me for my music and for the fun we bring to families, and they ask me if there is anything they can do to help. Now, I'm calling in those offers. And I really think people want to help and like to help and want to be part of something that is fun and positive.

Is there a particular dollar amount you have in mind?

Continue reading "Interview: Jim Cosgrove (Mr. Stinky Feet) on Crowdfunding" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Although there's been an explosion of new kids music available to folks here in the last decade or so, there hasn't necessarily been an explosion of new kids music concepts. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- there's a reason why folks have been singing certain songs for a century or more. The concept that kids (and their parents) sometimes might like to listen to songs with the same production values and musical variety as the music their parents listen to but with more kid-appropriate themes is huge, and one that a lot of folks have now internalized. But beyond that, not so much.

Michael Rachap's Readeez project, however, is a new kids music idea -- it applies that big concept above (kids music with the music-nutritional value of music for adults) to a visual idea of displaying words in time with music, far more so than any other video that displays words for the young viewer.

Rachap sat down recently and answered a few questions about his life in (and out of) advertising, how he puts his videos together, new Readeez-related projects, and the secret value of kicking a piano bench during lessons.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories?
Michael Rachap: 1) My dad's stereo, which I recall being about the size of a Hummer. I was, and still am, fascinated with music-making technology. 2) My dad's record collection, an eclectic set featuring lasting influences like the Beatles' "Red" and "Blue" LPs, Elton John's early catalogue, Dylan, Jackson Browne, The Band, and enough non-rock offerings to keep my ears open-minded. 3) The family's Baldwin Acrosonic upright, which I began playing at around age four.

I also remember taking piano lessons as a small boy, and the way my first teacher (the stern but compassionate Emily Reichert) would fiercely kick the bench we were sitting on to drive home the rhythm while I was playing. Intimidating but effective.

What drew you to your first career, advertising? What drew you away?
My first job out of college was as a marketing drone at a giant software company. That took about a year to lose its charm. When I learned that there was this occupation called "copywriter" where you got to come up with cool ideas and draw a regular paycheck, I made a goofy two-minute "Video Résumé" and sent it around to the top ten agencies in the DC area. One of the creative directors I targeted actually liked the thing and hired me. In retrospect, that video was the progenitor of Readeez—a full decade and a half before I started making them for kids.

I knew I wanted to leave advertising when I began to notice that the non-monetary rewards were, at least for me, pretty sparse. At its worst it was starting to feel like I was lying for a living. When I write Readeez I'm saying things that are very close to me, truths I want to express. Which I find very fulfilling.

Was there a particular "Eureka!" moment for you in coming up with the idea for Readeez?

Continue reading "Interview: Michael Rachap (Readeez)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Dean Jones is a busy man. Member of the great and earthy kids band Dog On Fleas, he's also got a solo career in his own right (witness the excellent lullaby disk Napper's Delight), produces others' disks (the upcoming album from Uncle Rock), and sometimes plays with the Felice Brothers. (He also sometimes plays "John Lemon" to his son's Paul McCartney -- see picture to left.)

In spite of Jones' many obligations, he still had time to answer a few questions about his musical background, what it was like to record his new album Rock Paper Scissors with the Felice Brothers, and his favorite instruments.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories? What are your memories of learning to play and sing music?
Dean Jones: I come from a pretty musical family. There was always someone playing the piano, and I remember fighting for my chance to make some noise on it. My Mom used to sing to me when I was little, and sometimes now I hear some random song and a memory floods back to me of her singing it to me.

My brother (11 years older) was my biggest musical influence. He played a lot of boogie woogie on the piano, as well as the Beatles, the Band, and that kind of thing. I used to hide in the closet when he got home from school and listen to him play. We listened to a lot of great music around the house too, from the Esso Trinidad Steel Band to Bach to Ella Fitzgerald. My brother took me to see Ella and she kissed me on the cheek!

When did you decide to become a musician?

Continue reading "Interview: Dean Jones (Dog on Fleas)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Founded in 200, The Secret Mountain initially focused solely on music CDs for children in Canada and France. It started released book/CD cominbations in 2003; in 2005, it started releasing titles in the U.S. market. Over that time, though they've covered a broad range of musical artists, from longtime Canadian artists to Trout Fishing in America to a collection of Jewish lullabies from around the world, one theme that runs throughout their collections are an attention to detail and quality in their product.

I recently talked with The Secret Mountain's founder, Roland Stringer, about the genesis of his company, how the book/CD combinations come about, and more about the company's latest release, Sunday in Kyoto.

Zooglobble: What were your earliest musical memories?
Roland Stringer: I was born in 1960, so I was part of that whole wave that grew up on the Beatles. I had that cliched scene of my sisters going crazy because they were watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.

I grew up in a small French-speaking town in Western Canada, so I heard a lot of traditional French music on the radio. As I grew up, in pre-teen years and beyond, I listened to Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel -- these North American artists.

What led to the founding of The Secret Mountain?
By the end of the '80s, I was doing artist management, music publishing, touring, a lot of everything. By chance, one of the artists I was working with did their first children's record in 1990. It was a project for freinds and family, but it went over well. So I produced kids records through the '90s.

In 2000, though, vinyl was gone, and the CD is a piece of plastic. I though it'd be nice to give the kids something more imaginative, involving storytelling, pictures, drawings, with music from around the world. I was wanting to work with illustrators on one end, storytellers on the other, and they really were doing the same thing. I was just coming up with the package.

You know, I was always interested in looking at the vinyl -- I remember studying those album covers from the Who or Genesis.

How do you decide on the music?

Continue reading "Interview: Roland Stringer (The Secret Mountain)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever since the Louisiana band Imagination Movers has had their own show on Disney (the favorite show of the Official Nephew of Zooglobble, I might add), the visibility of the high-energy jumpsuited band has grown exponentially. While up to now they've been producing the series in Louisiana, this fall they're embarking on their first national tour, helping to solve idea emergencies in a city near you.

We had the chance to catch up with red-hatted bassist Dave Poche as he was getting breakfast while on tour in Paducah, Kentucky. We talked about his musical influences, the genesis of the band, the status of lunches with his wife during filming of the TV show, and the one bad thing about being on tour.

Zooglobble: What were your early musical memories growing up?
Dave Poche: When I was very young, I had a Credence Clearwater Revival cassette, and of course a Beatles tape -- that was the first of my own music. I also liked Schoolhouse Rock. And I was really part of the early MTV generation.

As for when I was older... Rich had been involved in music for a long time and Scott sang in college. But I only had picked up the bass when I was 20 or 21. And when we formed the band, we needed somebody to play bass, so I started again.

This project sparked a lot of creativity. My father was in the LSU marching band, so I guess it just took thirty years to tap into [that creativity].

What was the spark for starting the Movers?

Continue reading "Interview: Dave Poche (Imagination Movers)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo credit: Michelle Pedone
Laurie Berkner needs no introduction. In spite of this fact, I'll provide one anyway. Over the course of five albums and more than a decade, Berkner has become quite possibly the biggest kids music superstar, at least among the preschool set. Although there have been a number of other folks who have been making great music as well over the past decade, I think it's Berkner's appearances on Noggin's Jack's Big Music Show that served as the tipping point, the catalyst for finally making the genre resurgent.

Berkner talked to me while riding in a cab to her New York City offices. Read on for details of her first singing experiences, what it's like to give up (some) control in the studio, and how hard it is to not lose sight of those singing experience amidst all the other business aspects of life as a musician.

Zooglobble: What were your strongest musical memories growing up?
Laurie Berkner: Well, the first memory was being 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 years old, and my parents made me stay in my room until a certain hour in the morning. I had a Fisher-Price record player, and I had a "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music. Our bedrooms must have been on opposite ends of the apartment, because I would march around the room and sing loudly.

The first time I sang in a group I was about 7, and it was my first chorus practice. We sang the schools' theme, "A whale of a school." It was the most incredible feeling to me... I listened to a lot of Broadway music, and then being in college, I listened to Joni Mitchell.

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
I graduated from college as a psychology major, with an art history minor. Coming home, I wasn't sure what I'd do. My dad said, "I thought you'd be a musician." And I said, "Who would pay me?" So my parents said they would pay for an apartment for 1 year, and pretty quickly, I got a job as a preschool music specialist.

Continue reading "Interview: Laurie Berkner" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple years ago, I interviewed John Flansburgh from They Might Be Giants about their Here Comes the 123s CD/DVD set. Now with the impending release of the follow-up to that Grammy-winning album, Here Comes Science, I recently had the opportunity to talk with Flansburgh's partner, John Linnell. In our chat we talked about his earliest musical influences, writing songs that aren't silly dance songs, and the role of science advisors...

Zooglobble: What are your childhood musical memories?
John Linnell: There were a couple specific records -- first, Songs of the Pogo, it had lyrics by Walt Kelly, who wrote the comic strip and worked with a songwriter on the record. It came out in the '50s, before I was born. It was a followup to a songbook Kelly wrote. It had some crazy, non-sensical wordplay.

Sounds like you...
Yeah... it was an important record in my childhood.

Then there was the LP of the soundtrack to Dumbo. I remember "Pink Elephants on Parade" -- it was a march with a menacing quality.

When I was 8 or 9, there was a Banana Splits record I liked. It wasn't quite as acid-touched as HR Pufnstuff, say -- it was the inferior followup. All those guys now acknowledge the influence of drugs on kids' TV...

How did you pick the topics for Here Comes Science?
We attempted to represent all the sciences. There was no way to cover all of them, but we tried to make it representative of the sciences -- earth, biology, physics, chemistry, paleotonology, applied sciences. We could make a couple more volumes and not run out of general topics. There was a whole series of Singing Science records, after all, that featured Tom Glazer.

Was it harder to write songs where you have to convey scientific truth rather than emotional truth (or a silly dance song)?
The previous recordings weren't that difficult -- there couldn't be anything simpler than alphabet. We could pour our efforts in being emotionally engaging.

There already was an alphabet song...
Yeah... but with Science, it was a lot harder to write factually accurate songs. We hired a guy from the New York Hall of Science to check what we did. We didn't need to hire anyone on the [Here Come the] ABCs and [Here Come the] 123s albums.

Were the videos made an even earlier component of the process as a result?
No, we pretty much applied the same process. We wrote the songs, then handed them over to the visual folks. We had to oversee the videos more. The science advisor looked at the visuals, which was somewhat grueling. Sometimes we re-storyboarded them to make the information more clear. But the creative animators could still express themselves. In fact, the visuals were even more packed -- the video for "Meet the Elements" crammed all this information into the video that wasn't even in the song.

A major theme of the album seems to be trying to convey the idea of science as much as or more so than facts...
We didn't talk much about themes when we were writing songs -- we just presented the information. But a little way through writing the songs, we realized we had some songs about science as a way of thinking, which is a topic that is both important and challenging for kids. The way I'm saying it here puts kids asleep right away. But hopefully they'll pick it up on the album. Like on "Science is Real" -- there are ways of ferreting out truth. It's the difference between science and myth. Hopefully kids are interested in that idea.

What's the next kids' album going to be?
I can answer that in two words: no idea. This album opens us up to a broad range of possibilities -- we've been unleashed from simpler topics. After ABCs, the Disney producers said that the obvious next step was the 123s. But here on out? We could certainly tackle subjects for older kids now -- history, or how society works. It'll be fun.

What else is next?
We have a book coming out called Go!, which is based on a PBS song we did. It's a nicely illustrated version. And another adult CD is still in the works...

Photo credit: Autumn DeWilde

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Peter Himmelman has been around the kids' music scene for a while -- not as long as he's been making music for a living -- but his first album for families, My Best Friend is a Salamander, came out in 1997. He's adapted nicely to the brave new world of the music industry, scoring the Judging Amy TV series and creating not one, but two video series for the internet (more on that below). His fifth album for kids, My Trampoline, is being released today on the new Minivan Productions kids music label.

I talked to him by phone last week, calling him at 8 AM -- not just my time, but also his time. Despite getting in from a songwriting workshop at 1 AM that same morning, Himmelman was thoughtful, expansive regarding his views on kids and music for kids, and, as befits a man who tells lots of ornate stories, far more verbally agile than I typically am at that hour...

Zooglobble: Thanks for taking such an early call...
Peter Himmelman: Oh, no problem -- please don't tell anyone that I don't live a bohemian lifestyle...

So I'll start off with a question I typically ask in every interview, and that's what musical memories you had growing up?
That's a good question worth asking. When I was 5 or 6, I'd listen with my older sister, who was 12; this was maybe 1966 or so. I would hear the Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" or maybe "Stop in the Name of Love". The ever-enchanting "House of the Rising Sun." I remember the electric organ -- snippets of songs can be very moving.

Then when I was 7 or 8, I'd play with my friend Doug Kauffman -- he had some free LPs. We'd listen and pretend the stuffed animals were the band. The rabbit would be the singer, flopping around. I enjoyed it more than he did, which is maybe why I went into music and he went into finance.

You tell a lot of stories in your songs, so do you also have any book memories from growing up?
Oh, Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach. My mom would read to me from a collection called Kiss, Kiss, which was kind of dark. Shel Silverstein. Maurice Sendak, of course - Where the Wild Things Are. Jules Verne... My first book I can remember really getting into was Scott O' Dell's Island of Blue Dolphins. Oh, we had these stories on vinyl -- I remember 101 Dalmatians. I also liked audio stories -- I still do. I like the aural imagery.

Do you segregate your writing for kids?

Continue reading "Interview: Peter Himmelman" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Note: This interview, conducted on behalf of the Phoenix New Times, can also be found here. Reprinted with permission.

Talking with The Wiggles' Murray Cook -- AKA the Red Wiggle, the group's lead guitarist -- is akin to talking to one of the Beatles, and finding out that they're really down-to-earth blokes. Before meeting Anthony Field and Greg Page while studying early childhood education Macquarie University, Cook played in various bands such as The Finger Guns. In 1991, Field, Page, and he formed the Wiggles. The rest is brightly-colored history.

It's possible that being the highest earning entertainers in Australia -- beating out Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and Kylie Minogue -- has gone to their head, but nothing in our conversation with while he was in New York waiting to do a meet-and-greet suggested anything of the sort. In fact, it was a little bit like talking to your neighbor down the street -- if your neighbor down the street not only earned more than Kylie Minogue but also released a single ("Monkey Man") with her.

Cook and the rest of the Wiggles (sans Minogue, sadly) will appear in two shows at Phoenix's Dodge Theatre today. Read on for more info on the Red Wiggle...

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Murray Cook: Well, it was the '60s, so a lot of the Beatles, of course... There's a long-running TV show in Australia called Playschool -- forty years and still running -- I watched that. But, of course, the Beatles and the Stones were important. At about 11 or 12 I started playing the guitar -- became obsessed with it, really. Kept on playing it. My dad in particular suggested that there might not be a career in it. About ten years ago, my dad said he was probably wrong that, which was nice for him to say...

What process do you and the band go through in writing music?
It's all pretty collaborative with us. Anthony's brother [Paul Field] helps out with the music, though Anthony does a lot with lyrics. Paul Paddick, who's Captain Feathersword, also contributes. We all work together, all on the same page.

How about Greg [Page, the original Yellow Wiggle]?
Yeah, after Greg decided to leave the group, he got away from it completely, a totally clean break.

You're starting this new tour -- how long does it take you to prep for taking a show on tour?

Continue reading "Interview: Murray Cook (The Wiggles)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Twin Cities' Adam Levy's got a lot going on -- still working with his main band The Honeydogs and a side project with a name he hesitates to use on a kids music site (it's OK, Adam, I mentioned it anyway), he's also got a kid-friendly side project called Bunny Clogs. He released More! More! More! earlier this year -- it's definitely one of the most interesting kids' CDs of the year, but it's also got some of the most entertaining tracks of the year, too. (Here's the review.)

Adam recently answered a few questions about the project -- read on for how the album's like an old De La Soul disk, the unique aspects of playing for kids, and his defense and critique of contemporary pop music (in other words, arguments for and against Miley Cyrus).

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Adam Levy: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. KISS. The Beatles. Sly and the Family Stone. Hendrix. Dylan. I'd have to say the diversity of '70's radio was the biggest impact in my early childhood -- you heard elements of everything in pop radio from that era: British pop, soul, funk, country, classical, disco, prog, hard rock, blues. I also remember an explosion of interesting children's music in that Sesame Street era -- Free To Be You and Me, Carole King's Really Rosie, Harry Nilsson's The Point.

When did you first know you wanted to make music for a living?
When I was 12...

You've been writing some of the Bunny Clogs songs for a while now -- how did you get into writing these songs?

Continue reading "Interview: Adam Levy (Bunny Clogs)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Everything I like about Molly Ledford and the awesome band she leads, Lunch Money, can be summed up, I think, in that photo to the left, which Molly titled "cookie eclipse of the head." The self-effacing nature, the humor, the goofiness, the well-thought out design -- all of which Lunch Money and that picture have in spades.

So without any further ado, here's Molly on the first time she was banned from singing something, her peppy song about a horror movie from the '70s, and why having fun (and looking like it) is an important part of being in Lunch Money. There is also some gauntlet-throwing, so please watch your heads.

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
My parents always had records playing - Paul Simon, Roberta Flack, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Kingston Trio, The Spinners, Vince Guaraldi. Most of it I enjoyed, except that I think I got subjected to Barbra Streisand's Guilty (the Barry Gibb collaboration) a few too many times on long trips to Pennsylvania. In the car, my brother and I would perk up when Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" would come on the radio. Or the chorus of British children singing in Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Or I even remember being delighted by Monty Python's "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio" with all its funny sound effects. I think kids have always listened to their parents' music and panned for something they could relate to.

But one moment that truly rocked me was the night my dad blasted Meet the Beatles shortly after I had gone to bed (maybe he thought he had headphones plugged in? It was unusually loud....). I think I was about seven at the time. I came running out, enthralled. My parents would not let me play their copy on my own relatively crummy record player, but I luckily found one at my neighbor's garage sale for a quarter. It was totally scratched, and I listened to it over and over. So really I became way more familiar with my personal scratched copy. I could sing along to every skip. I also listened to Casey Kasem's Top 40 every weekend in my room on an old clock radio, and I remember falling into a happy trance when Olivia Newton-John's "Magic" came on the first time.

When did you first start getting interested in writing music (generally, not for kids)?
My mom got me a guitar when I was nine and I took some lessons, but I have to credit my ever-scheming friend around the corner with getting me started on songwriting. One day she said she was writing a song (she was always up to something), so I tried my hand at it too. I came up with something especially for us to perform at the school talent show (we were in 6th grade). For some reason my chorus contained the lines, "I run away and throw away these chains. It doesn't solve my problems, but it helps to ease the pain." But to my surprise, when I gave my mom a sneak peek at my talent show song, she forbade me to play it. So we ended up covering "Take It to the Limit" instead. In high school I really started writing songs (still with angst, this time only semi-imaginary) and have been in bands ever since.

Continue reading "Interview: Molly Ledford (Lunch Money)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Debbie Cavalier leads a double life -- not only is she behind Debbie and Friends, which offers a bunch of songs (and animation) squarely aimed at preschoolers (and maybe their older siblings), she's also the Dean of Continuing Education at Berklee College of Music's online division. So she's got a pretty broad perspective on life as a musician, educator, and entrepreneur. (She's also a really nice person.) Read on for her inspiration for Debbie and Friends, some music education tips, and the worst part about playing keyboards.

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Debbie Cavalier: My mom always played a lot of Tom Jones and Neil Diamond in the house when I was a kid. She also played my grandfather records a lot: The Marty Gold Orchestra. My grandfather has been a huge influence on my musical life. I just wrote a blog post about this.

Upon getting my own record player in elementary school in the mid 70s, my favorites rotations up were Elton John, Carole King, Billy Joel, the Bee Gees, Carly Simon, and Bruce Springsteen. Elton John definitely got more airplay in my room than anyone else.

What was the path that led you to your current job at Berklee and what does that job entail?

Continue reading "Interview: Debbie Cavalier (Debbie and Friends)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every time I hear or see Robert Schneider, head man for the indie-pop group Apples in Stereo, I'm totally convinced that his side project Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine isn't some cynical grab for attention -- he's 110%, maybe even 120%, jazzed by the stuff he does for kids. His fun debut album as Robbert Bobbert for Little Monster Records -- Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine -- may have just come out this year, but as you'll read in the interview below, he's been working on a lot of this stuff for a long time.

Zooglobble: What music do you remember listening to growing up?
Robert Schneider: I was born in Cape Town, South Africa, so my early years were in a beach city. South Africa is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans merge; they have awesome beaches and surf. After our family moved back to America, I eventually discovered the Beach Boys. I think their music reminded me of the feeling of living by the ocean.

My parents listened to a lot of Cat Stevens. I love his music – Tea for the Tillerman and the song “Moonshadow.” I saw Harold and Maude when I was around 12, and it is one of my favorite movies with its great Cat Stevens soundtrack. However, the Beach Boys are still my favorite band. My son Max (age 8) likes them too - he heard Brian Wilson perform Pet Sounds when he was in the womb; and later saw him perform the songs from Smile - but I think he likes the Beatles a little bit more. He came into the Beatles on his own, hearing the music around the house and from other family members who are big Beatles fans.

What impact did other pop culture (e.g., TV, movies) have on your musical tastes?
TV was banned in South Africa until 1976. There simply wasn’t any TV there because the government thought it would corrupt the populace. In my last year there when I was 6, I can remember seeing TV for first time…there was a little picture of a springbok going across the savannah in black & white and thinking, “Wow – a movie in my house!” Prior to that, what people did was play movies at home on projectors. You could rent movies at the local store.

When our family moved to America, I watched a ton of TV that first year. Between the ages of 6 and 7 (1977-78), I watched a massive amount of reruns and basically got caught up on American culture. I also listened to a lot of 70’s pop and disco, mostly from TV. This permeated my mind. So, the TV world of the 1970s probably influenced me somewhat.

When I was in middle school, MTV first came out. We lived in the college town of Ruston, LA. The local cable TV service would not carry MTV, but Louisiana Tech had a satellite disc. My dad was a professor there, and I went to a school on campus (it was awesome! We had a planetarium, regular music class, art classes). Every day after school, once MTV started, my friends and I walked over to the student center on campus and watched MTV on the giant screen. I had to go out of my way to get it, so it was really special.

I have great memories of the early years of MTV. There was a great show in the 80s called The Cutting Edge. I also watched 120 Minutes -- the absolute hippest music was on there, like REM and Robyn Hitchcock. I discovered this noncommercial, alternative music existed, and it blew my young mind.

Most of my early musical influences came from buying records, reading magazines and listening to Louisiana Tech's great radio station KLPI.

What came first -- the songs (or the album) or Robbert Bobbert?

Continue reading "Interview: Robert Schneider (Robbert Bobbert)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every time I hear more of Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, the more I'm convinced he's going to be a Big Thing. Of course, he may be already, with the first great kids-hop album Easy set for re-rerelease this summer and appearances at Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Festival lined up for later this year. In this interview, you get a sense of both the studied and self-examined approach he's taken to understanding his particular path as well as the positivity and enthusiasm that has taken him pretty far down that path to Big Thing-ness already.

Read on for details on how he got to recording music for kids, the occasional difficulty of writing rhymes for kids, and how he knew his daughter Saki was ready for the big time. (Oh, and if you're thinking you've already got Easy and you don't need the re-release, read on...)

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo: I remember my first tape, a dubbed copy of Beastie Boys License to Ill. It now blows my mind to go back and listen to that album and get the nostalgia echoes from songs that I listened to as a youth without even slightly understanding them. Now I get all the slang and references, everything. But I still remember trying to figure out what "I fly a fat burger when I'm way out west" meant on a 4th grade field trip. And Brass Monkey sounded like a cartoon character. Nope, not at all!

How did you decide being a touring musician was what you wanted to do with your life?
I started with the touring part before the musician part. I grew up in a culture-starved small town in Indiana, and blew that popsicle stand real early. By the time I was 18, I had already taken Greyhound and Amtrak everywhere from New Olreans to Cali to Mexico. After that, I spent a while hitchiking, trainhopping and backpacking all across America. My musical side started with a drum I carried with me, and eventually myself and a friend started freestyle rhyming over the beats we made. By the way, that friend is DJ Mr. Strange a.k.a. ADAM STRANGE, the DJ for 23 Skidoo and my rhyming partner for over 13 years. So, we attracted more weirdos and started busking (street performing) which eventually turned into a hip hop/funk band called GFE. As seasoned travelers, it was no question we would take the show on the road, and we began touring before we hardly even had a set put together. Now it's just in the blood, can't wait to take it international!

What (besides having a child) made you want to record a kids' album?

Continue reading "Interview: Secret Agent 23 Skidoo" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Sometimes the printed page (or screen) isn't enough. I've admired Kathy O'Connell, the host of the Kids Corner radio show at Philadelphia's WXPN for many reasons. She is in essence the dean of kids music radio, having hosted Kids Corner for more than 20 years (and other shows before that). She is also an absolute riot to be around -- meeting her at StinkFest/KindieFest 2009 was definitely a blast. So I was excited when O'Connell agreed to answer a few questions. Read on -- even if you live nowhere near Philly -- and find out how O'Connell got her start in radio, what she looks for in putting together Kids Corner, and her connection to Vampire Weekend (really).

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Kathy O'Connell: My parents had lots of novelty records, like Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, and Betty Hutton, along with a lot of Sinatra and Dean Martin. When I started buying my own music, I went heavy on the show tunes. The album that had the biggest influence on me growing up was Carol Burnett Remembers How They Stopped the Show. I won talent shows lip-synching her version of “Adelaide’s Lament.” I pretty much had the “novelty” category to myself in the CYO Summer Recreation Talent Shows.

Then, the Beatles came, and I never looked back. I was a British Invasion girl all the way, with a soft spot for novelty tunes. When the Beatles and Soupy Sales were on the same Ed Sullivan show, my brains fell out.

What radio stations and DJs did you listen to growing up?
WABC in New York. Top 40 radio at its best. I had a transistor radio to my ear all the time. The WABC jocks were my first introduction to the possibilities of creative live radio. I think people look upon radio as a conduit to music instead of an art in itself. The WABC jocks were entertainers who happened to play records. A good live radio artist is a like a good jazz musician. They can roll with anything and make it entertaining. And the intimacy of radio leaves such an imprint. I can still sing the theme songs for Scott Muni and “Cousin” Bruce Morrow more than 40 years later.

My favorite DJ, then and forever, was Dan Ingram. He did 2-6 pm on WABC. He was the most creative voice on the radio. And when he needed to, when a news story warranted it, he was serious. Dan Ingram had the mix of funny and serious down perfectly. Listening to WABC back then, you felt like you were part of a bigger community. So, it was a big deal when Cousin Brucie’s son Dana John (DJ) was born, and we got swept up in the “Principal of the Year Contest” every year. I even nominated the awful principal we had at St. Hugh’s. We weren’t successful.

When did you first realize that you wanted to work in radio? When did you start doing kids radio -- it wasn't exactly planned, was it?

Continue reading "Interview: Kathy O'Connell (Kids Corner)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Guitarist and songwriter Tito Uquillas of the Bay Area band The Hipwaders has always struck me as almost as much a fan of great kids music and music in general as a creator of great kids music. Indeed, in an unrelated conversation about traveling around the country to shows such as Kidzapalooza and the Sirius-XM Studios, Uquillas said "We just need our costs covered as we don't care about making money. We're in it for the adventure!"

Even with that comment, Uquillas has also been a little more upfront than many in the kids music genre about the sometimes challenging economics of being a musician in the 21st century. He recently answered a few questions about his musical background, the economics of his band, and what it's like to have a song of yours accompany a show on catfish noodling.

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Tito Uquillas: I think it's telling that my earliest memory is a musical one of my aunt singing Petula Clark's "Downtown" as she would walk us to the downtown area of the town we lived. My father is from Ecuador and had quite an eclectic record collection. Besides hearing a lot of Ecudaorean music artists, I was exposed to what now would be termed as "world music." He also had an extensive collection of soundtracks. I found the soundtracks extremely interesting and loved hearing the zither of "The Third Man Theme" and the bouzouki of "Zorba the Greek."

When I was 8 years old I saw The Beatles' movie Help! on TV and became infatuated with the band. Every few weeks I would buy a Beatles album by saving my milk money and doing odd jobs like polishing my Dad's shoes.

As a teenager I was corrupted by Lenny Kayes' Nuggets compilation and my taste in music turned away from mainstream. I loved the high energy raw sounds of music from Stax/Volt soul to punk rock and new wave music. I would buy every Stiff Records and Two-Tone import 45 I could lay my hands on. It didn't matter if I knew the band or not.

How hard is it combining your day job (or perhaps it's a night job depending on your shifts) with your Hipwaders work?

Continue reading "Interview: Tito Uquillas (The Hipwaders)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reminder: Go here by tonight for a chance to win free Jiggle Jam stuff -- you don't have to live anywhere near KC to enjoy the shirt, hat, and compilation CD!

I was totally impressed with the lineup for the 2009 KC Jiggle Jam, to be held this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. When I saw Jeni and Jim Cosgrove at KindieFest 2009 in Brooklyn a couple weeks ago, having as much fun if not more so than the kids on hand, I had some small idea of the enthusiasm and passion the two of them bring toward putting together a most excellent kids music festival. But I also wanted to get a sense of just how much work and planning putting on an event like takes. So I decided to ask them (in the midst of their final preparations). Jeni and Jim, along with Keli Wenzel, answered a few questions about Jiggle Jam's past, present, and future...

Zooglobble What was the genesis of the Jiggle Jam?
Jeni Cosgrove: Jiggle Jam Family Music Festival is a non-profit, 501c3 agency committed to gathering generations and communities together to experience musical performances and educational activities in a positive atmosphere that the entire family can enjoy.

The idea of Jiggle Jam began with three people who shared the same vision, Jim and Jeni Cosgrove and Keli O'Neill Wenzel. Jim has been leading the children's music scene in Kansas City for more than a decade. Jeni Cosgrove has been there right beside him as a wife, booking agent, tour manager, and event planner. Jeni had successfully organized five smaller children's music festivals prior to Jiggle Jam. Keli Wenzel works under the umbrella of O'Neill Communications, a public relations, marketing and event management firm. Keli is also the Executive Director of the highly successful Kansas City Irish Fest -- the city's biggest and most awesome festival.

After casually discussing a family music fest for several years, the three of us finally sat down together one day in September 2007, and decided to make it a reality. Crown Center, a shopping, dining, and hotel complex adjacent to the headquarters for Hallmark Cards, gave us the push we needed. They too wanted to see some kind of family festival on their grounds. They knew Keli made it happen with Irish Fest, and they knew Jim and I could pull together some of the best acts in children's music.

Jim Cosgrove: Jeni and I produced our own music fest -- Family Peace Jamboree -- for three years. It was all local acts performing on a big stage in a local school parking lot. It was successful (about 1,000 people the first year) and a lot of work. Just when we decided we couldn't do it by ourselves anymore, Hallmark/Crown Center approached Keli and us about creating a signature event for them.

Crown Center has the perfect festival facilities. Keli knows festivals (and how to squeeze corporate dollars) better than anyone. Jeni and I know family music, and we know what families want and how artists deserved to be treated. It's a winning combination.

Jeni: The three of us reached out to more close friends and formed a tight board of directors who pounded the pavement, reached out to the community, and made the details come together. It's a team effort.

Continue reading "Interview: The KC Jiggle Jam" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chris Ballew is probably most familiar to folks of my generation as one of the guys behind the Presidents of the United States of America, who came out of the Pacific Northwest and had a number of alternative rock hits in the mid-'90s. And while the Presidents are still going strong (Ballew answered these questions in the midst of a European tour with the Presidents), he's turning some of his attention to making music for the younger set via Caspar Babypants.

If the giddiness of his debut Here I Am! album or his series of YouTube videos hasn't convinced you how excited Ballew is by his efforts in the family music genre, this interview will.

Zooglobble: What did you listen to or play instrument-wise growing up?
Chris Ballew: I guess I was a bit of a piano wonder kid. I started with a pro teacher when I was 4 and went until I was 14 and discovered the awesome power and majesty of the ELECTRIC GUITAR! Then it all changed focus but I still have the piano in my bones.

What artists influenced you as a musician in the Presidents?
The Beatles, Boston, Lenny Kravitz, The Stooges, and Weird Al. I wanted to make a Frankenstein’s monster of all those artists and I think I actually did it. So it has the love and peace intent of the Beatles, the arena rock swagger (it's in there!) of Boston, the clean articulate simple production of Lenny Kravitz (the early stuff), the fuzz and scrape of the Stooges, and the oddball lyrics of Weird Al.

Continue reading "Interview: Chris Ballew (Caspar Babypants)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finally had the chance to upload (and post) a nice little interview with the genius behind The Jellydots, Doug Snyder. He played a couple sweet shows here in Phoenix a couple weeks back, and I caught him in between sets. We talked about his guitar, work on his upcoming album, and other Jellydot-ian news. (Oh, and Little Boy Blue wandered in occasionally, so apologies for the odd camera angles for some of the interview.)

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love doing the interviews I've done here on this site -- Dan Zanes, Ella Jenkins, Justin Roberts, so many great ones -- but I've got to admit that the e-mails I do over the phone or in person are a pain-and-a-half to transcribe.

So I'm really excited about this interview with Randy Kaplan, filmed just before his show here in Phoenix at the end of last year. I'm excited not just because it's a cool interview and provides some insight into Randy's musical beginnings, how songs like "Shampoo Me" came to be, and how Kaplan pictures, but also because I filmed it and uploaded it to YouTube. No work.

Of course, the sound is a little odd, and occasionally the camera pans left or right just so it's not 7 minutes of Randy on camera, but I still think it's cool.

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Roslonek, better known now as SteveSongs, now has a new role (or a new AKA) as Mr. Steve, one of the morning hosts on PBS KIDS, on which he performs interactive songs music about the day's theme. He also has a new DVD out, The Marvelous Musical Adventures. He's touring behind the DVD. There is no truth to the rumor that he is also playing on the Red Sox, but it does seem like Roslonek's got a busy, busy schedule right now.

Nevertheless, he found a few minutes to chat with me recently. Read on for his musical background, how his Mr. Steve spots have evolved, and how being Mr. Steve is like visiting Canada.

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Steve Roslonek: Oh, Schoolhouse Rock, the Muppets, Sesame Street... My parents listened to everything from James Taylor to Motown, to Men at Work.

What was your musical playing background?

Continue reading "Interview: Steve Roslonek (SteveSongs AKA Mr. Steve)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The band Mates of State consists of just two members -- the husband-and-wife team of Jason Hammel (drums) and Kori Gardner (keyboards), though the two seem like such equals that I could've just as easily called them the wife-and-husband team of Kori and Jason.

Their excellent fifth album Re-Arrange Us was released this spring; it finds the duo broadening their sonic palette in a bunch of hook-laden songs. Lyrically, the songs cover relationships -- no surprise there -- but more so about the hard work of relationships after the initial attraction fades.

In addition to their rock albums, Gardner is known for writing a blog about her experiences recording and touring with Gardner's and Hammel's two kids, Magnolia and June. They also covered "Jellyman Kelly" for the For The Kids III compilation and are going to be appearing on Yo Gabba Gabba! this season.

All of which is why I talked with Jason Hammel last for this kids music website. He chatted with me for a few minutes by phone last week. Read on to find out his first 7" record, daughter Magnolia's favorite song off the new album, and what prevents them from recording a kids album.

Zooglobble: So what music did you have around the house growing up?
Jason Hammel: We had that holiday Snoopy album, and my Dad had some Monkees albums... My first 7" record was the theme from The Greatest American Hero...

That's a great song!
Yeah, I remember taking it to school in first great and thinking it was so great to have my teacher play it there in class.

You and Kori made the band a full-time thing in 2001, but did the birth of your kids somehow change how you approached your musical career, business-wise or otherwise?

Continue reading "Interview: Jason Hammel (Mates of State)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Matt Pryor leads a double life. Or is it a triple life? Matt's best known right now for being the leader of the band the New Amsterdams (the band he formed after his prior band the Get Up Kids dissolved), but right now he's also promoting his first solo album. That's not uncommon -- people do that all the time. But to be also be the ringleader of the kids' band The Terrible Twos, well, that's a third thing for Matt to keep track of.

Matt swung through Phoenix last month promoting not only his solo debut Confidence Man but also the Terrible Twos' second kids music CD, the excellent Jerzy the Giant (review). After his Terrible Twos show, but before his solo show for adults later that evening, we had a chance to chat briefly about Led Zeppelin's influence on their latest album, the best thing about playing for kids, and Pryor's plans for the next Terrible Twos album.

The funniest part of the entire interview? When I went into the tiny green room after the Terrible Twos show to interview him, mentioned that I was glad for the quiet, at which point one of the bands opening for Matt later that night let forth with an awesomely loud chord. It took us a good 15 seconds to stop laughing...

Zooglobble: What's it like writing songs with your kids?
Matt Pryor: My daughter Lily would walk around the house singing these melodies that would come into her head. All I would do is take those melodies and expand them and write a rhythm guitar part or a piano part. In the case of "Great Big Poop," I told my drummer, "Play like John Bonham -- it's duh, duh, duh, duh-de-duh-de-duh, and then you can do whatever you want." It's one take, and then built everything on top of it. We've haven't sat down much to collaborate -- it doesn't go as well as when I just steal one of the melodies.

Is Lily your oldest?
She's the oldest. My middle son Elliott is the one who tours with us most frequently. He plays maracas on stage... he'll be meeting up with us on Friday...

So I read somewhere -- and who knows how it was taken out of context -- where you said people take kids music too seriously. What's your feeling about kids music and why you do it?

Continue reading "Interview: Matt Pryor (The Terrible Twos)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Florida's Mr. Richard has no kids of his own, but he's got plenty of fans in the single-digit set. He has three albums of kids' music to his credit, the most recent being Polka Dot Puzzle, and a most devoted fanbase (which helped him take the 2008 KidVid Tournament crown for his "Cheese" video).

Mr. Richard (real name: Richard Peeples) recently sat down and answered a few questions about himself and his music. Read onward for his thoughts on his guitar influences, the problem with delayed gratifications and kids, and the most perfect pop song ever.

Zooglobble: What were your musical influences growing up?
Mr. Richard: When I was little, I knew all the words to “Bottle Of Wine” by the Fireballs, and my brother and I wore the grooves off our copy of “The Jungle Book”, which gave us an early appreciation of Louis Prima. Like most kids, I heard what my parents listened to on records and the radio, so that meant the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and all those great AM pop hits of the late 60’s/early 70’s.

When I started learning the guitar in 9th grade, I was totally into the Rolling Stones, so it was all about Keith Richards. He’s such a rhythm master. I also loved Hendrix and Brian May, but it was Keith’s licks I tried to copy, although my playing is closer to another hero, Dave Davies of the Kinks. However, I am first drawn to the words and emotion in a song, so I always ended up being the front man in bands, with better guitarists handling the gun-slinging duties.

Since you never stop “growing up”, other favorites are the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, Replacements, Young Fresh Fellows, Wilco, Guided By Voices, and I am drawn to smart-alecks like Todd Snider and Randy Newman.

How did you find yourself playing kids' music?

Continue reading "Interview: Mr. Richard" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

San Francisco's Frances England was a Zooglobble first -- the first-ever artist interview on this site. Since that time, England's debut Fascinating Creatures continued to win universal acclaim and England herself added a second child to her family. Two years later, her even-stronger follow-up Family Tree (review) seems certain to attract even more acclaim.

England recently answered some questions about what she's been doing the past couple years, how life has changed for her, and how it hasn't. Read on for Frances' trick to overcoming stage nervousness, the inspiration for "Animal Friends," and her plans for live shows.

Zooglobble: When we last talked 2 years ago, Fascinating Creatures was just beginning to get noticed in the world at large. Can you pinpoint a certain moment at which you said to yourself, "Oh, my, something really big is going on here"?
Frances England: Well, in the wide world of music I don’t know how big this all really is but definitely for me, what happened with Fascinating Creatures was shocking - probably because I had no expectations. Not too long after I began selling the CD online, I remember getting these emails saying that random people in Hong Kong were buying it, then it was Australia, and New Zealand and all these far away places.

And it was just really weird to think about how far this little homespun CD had gone, especially considering where it all got started – in our bathroom. (I wrote all of the songs for FC while my first son, Liam, was taking baths). I was also really blown away to be named the sole winner of the 2007 Oppenheim Award. As a mom, I’ve used that very recognizable seal of theirs to scout out quality products for years, so I was really honored by that.

How did life change for you as a result of Fascinating Creatures' success?

Continue reading "Interview: Frances England" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tyler Stewart was the last of the founding members of the rock group Barenaked Ladies, which means he's only been with the band for 18 of its 20 years of existence. He's been the band's drummer ever since. Stewart chatted by phone last week about what his kids listen to (Neil Young and High School Musical, just to begin with); his views on the relative merits of Barney, Sesame Street, and Beethoven; the genesis of their first kids' CD Snacktime; and what's to come for the band. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia.)

Zooglobble: I'm going to start the with the question I always ask whenever I interview someone and that is -- what were your musical influences growing up?
Tyler Stewart: Well, my parents are pretty young so they were into popular and good music. My dad was a big fan of British rock bands like the Who, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, and my mom was really into Motown music and soul. There was always good music playing in my house.

Specifically, what do you listen to with your kids?
Well, my kids, their dad's a musician, so it's a pretty varied catalog, and my wife, too, has pretty good taste in music. My iPod has 14,000 songs on it, they run the whole gamut. Recently my daughter Millie was saying, "Gawd, I'm so tired of this old people's music -- I don't want to hear any more Neil Young." My daughter's nine. "I like Neil Young, but not all the time." Yeah, I'm guilty of that.

Right now they're heavily into High School Musical. High School Musical 1 and 2 is like the Grease of today.

Both my daughters really like Alison Krauss and her fiddle music. Of course they love the Beatles, the universal music of all time. And we really love to listen to They Might Be Giants, their three kids' albums, together. They know every word, and they love 'em.

Do they listen to the Alison Krauss-Robert Plant CD?
You know, I haven't gotten that one yet. I can't believe I haven't... They like the live record she did, the 2-CD one she put out 4 years ago -- they really like that one a lot.

My kids, they run the gamut, they like all kinds of different music. That's sort of my goal. When I got them iPods, I filled them with all kinds of varied different kinds of music so that nothing seems surprising. I don't want them to have any musical prejudices or fears at that age. So that when they want to listen to Hilary Duff, OK, we'll put on Hilary Duff...

But that's their own choice, and they've listened to everything else...

Continue reading "Interview: Tyler Stewart (Barenaked Ladies)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been sitting on a bunch of interviews from my trips to Austin last September. With the music world once again congregating in Austin for SXSW, it's high time I transcribed and shared them with you.

Given the South By Southwest connection, I thought it appropriate to kick things off with Tor Hyams, who will be speaking at a kids music panel at SXSW Friday.

Among the many roles that California-based Hyams has is producing the Kidzapalooza stage at Lollapalooza and the Austin Kiddie Limits stage at the Austin City Limits Festival, not to mention the Little State stage at the Big State Festival. It was backstage at ACL 2007 that I caught up with Hyams and talked about producing those events and his thoughts about the future of kids music festivals.

Zooglobble: What's been the best part about the Austin Kiddie Limits stage?
Tor Hyams: The best part about the Austin Kiddie Limits is, I have to say, Austin. People are really different. There's no airs about anybody, they're very open and honest and willing to have a good time, and that makes what we do a lot easier.

You produce Kidzapalooza, Austin Kiddie Limits, and the kids stage at the Big State Festival. Big State is more country, while the other two are more rock. How did you decide who you would try to get for Kidzapalooza as opposed to Austin Kiddie Limits?
In Kidzapalooza, we go a little harder-edged. It's just a different energy to that place than here. This is more of a roots-rock kind of energy, where Kidzapalooza is more of hard-rock kind of energy. Some bands fit into both, like the Sippy Cups. Some bands don't work in both. For example, we had the Blisters, Jeff Tweedy's son's band, at Kidzapalooza, but they're from Chicago, and they're kids. It would've been hard to get them out here. I think they would've done well here, but it's just a different thing. So it's really who fits more the roots-rock mold or even country crossover acts do well, but Austin's such a dynamic city that I think you could any kind of act on stage here and it would work.

I saw a quote from Charles Attal, the head of C3 Productions who sort of described the festival circuit as a land grab -- there are a lot of opportunities in a lot of other places to establish these festivals. Do you think a kids stage is something C3 or other entities would be looking towards doing?

Continue reading "Interview: Tor Hyams" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

They Might Be Giants were my first musical discovery. Meaning, up through and including most of high school, I was a fairly straight-laced, MTV-watching, Columbia-House-12-for-a-penny-ing music listener. And, then 20 years ago this September, they released Lincoln on the Bar/None label and that was the start of an entirely new musical direction for me, one where I actually sought out music rather than taking whatever was most easily consumed.

I take that brief personal detour for two reasons:
1) In one sense, the fact that I've got this website charged with finding great music for kids and families is due, in some small way, to that 20-year-old album.
2) It provides an interesting perspective to me as I consider the words of John Flansburgh, who founded the band as a duo with John Linnell 25 years ago and who now navigates with Linnell both a very independent course as a band but also one that has them working with many large media corporations.

Flansburgh, who, along with Linnell and the rest of TMBG, has released two excellent album in the past 12 months -- the adult-oriented The Else last summer and the kids-focused Here Come the 123s last week -- took some time out from his busy schedule to answer some questions about the new CD/DVD set. Read on for Flansburgh's thoughts on the influence of "Sesame Street" on their work for kids, how they went about picking animators and directors for the video, the future of the Podcast for Kids, and much more.

Zooglobble: What sort of music did you listen to in your childhood?
John Flansburgh: My mom avidly listens to a bunch of quite specific music that is very non-rock and very non-kid: Noel Coward, Joan Baez, Louie Armstrong, Lotte Lenya (which was very mysterious to me as a kid). West Side Story and Cabaret were routinely played at top volume to inspire housecleaning. I had some Beatles and Monkees albums I bought with birthday money that I essentially memorized, and some very odd kiddie albums I inherited from a distant relative that were truly strange. One was called Happy Birthday to You! and even at a very young age I was suspicious it was a bit of a rushed effort. Side two got pretty grim.

You've mentioned Sesame Street as an inspiration for your kids' CDs -- is that the music, the visuals, or both?
Both. Personally, as abstract or maybe as obvious as this sounds, when we first embarked on kids' stuff I felt it was important that it be focused directly to kids. I know that notion contradicts what a lot of people say is our kids' stuff's fundamental appeal, but for me it was the essential difference from our adult efforts. I never wanted anyone to walk away from the kids' stuff thinking we were rock guys some how goofing on kids or kids' stuff. No inside jokes for adults allowed, and no pandering. Sesame Street was very good at avoiding any kind of pandering vibe that poisons so much kids' stuff. Also, Sesame Street, and specifically the Muppets on Sesame Street, established this perfect tone. They balanced educational material with very original ideas and actual entertainment. It's breezy.

Did you primarily write the songs for the album in a concentrated burst, or was it a case of polishing up song snippets you'd written sporadically over the past few years?

Continue reading "Interview: John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've talked to a few Grammy winners and nominees here at Zooglobble -- Dan Zanes, Ralph Covert, the incomparable Ella Jenkins -- but with the Grammy ceremon(ies) set for Sunday, I hope you'll indulge me another Grammy interview. No, it's not kids music, but it's also not every day that a friend gets nominated for 4.4 Grammy Awards (yes, 4.4 -- see below).

Joel Rinsema is the Executive Director and Assistant Conductor for the Phoenix Bach Choir. (Here he is rehearsing the Phoenix Bach Choir.) Their recording with the Kansas City Chorale of Grechaninov’s Passion Week, led by Artistic Director Charles Bruffy, was nominated for four 2007 Grammy Awards, including Classical Album of the Year.

Joel is also the music director at our church and is always up for talking about cooking good food. He was kind enough to talk about what it was like hearing about the nominations, their music, and where to get designer fashions on the cheap.

To some extent, there are some parallels here between Joel's comments on the impact a win for the Choir and Chorale would have on the classical music category and what wins for independent artists in the children's music categories mean. So go ahead and read -- you'll enjoy it...

Photo credits: Tim Trumble

Zooglobble: Where literally were you when you heard about the Grammy nominations? Was there lots of jumping and screaming involved? Or did you just go back to getting the kids ready for school?
Joel Rinsema: The kids were off to school, and I believe that the televised nominations began at 9 AM Arizona time (8 AM Pacific), so instead of making my way to the office, I booted up my laptop and worked while the nominations were going on. Charles Bruffy lives in Kansas City and we do a lot of our work via AOL Instant Messenger. He wasn’t on, but Donald Loncasty, the Executive Director of the Kansas City Chorale was, and we immediately began to IM back and forth while watching. Of course, they announced all of the “major” nominations to the press corps, but when they got to the end (without announcing any of the classical ones!) and announced that a full list of the nominees was available “at the back of the room” we were both ready to throw things at our TVs.

Instead, I began to frantically type in www.grammy.com. So did, it seemed, thousands of others were doing the same thing, as the website was frozen. I kept on hitting refresh…and there it was…the list of the 50th Grammy Award Nominees. I remember quickly scrolling down the list, and clicking on the word Classical. The first field that appeared was Category 98: “Best Classical Album of the Year.” Alphabetically, ours is listed second, right after the Cherubini Mass with Ricardo Muti conducting. Shaking wildly…so much so, that I knew that I couldn’t type, I picked up the phone to call Kansas City. Don answered the phone and I just remember screaming craziness into his ear. (Something like “Oh My God! Best $(*^&^^% Classical Album of the Year!)

I went back to the computer as Don was still trying to access the site. I just knew that if we were nominated for best Classical, that there were other nominations. Sure enough, we were given nods for four additional Grammys including Best Choral Performance , Best Engineered Album -Classical, and Best Surround Sound Album. Also, our producer Blanton Alspaugh from Soundmirror in Boston was nominated as Best Classical Producer. Two of the five discs he submitted for consideration (Passion Week and Eternal Rest) are ours. [Ed: Hence, the additional 0.4 nominations.]

Did you have any idea that you'd be nominated for four awards? Any rumors?
We heard that Passion Week had made a good impression on the voters. We had no idea though, that we would be up for Best Classical. That was SO far removed from our thinking.

What are the big "firsts" associated with the nominations? (Besides "first Grammy nominations for Joel Rinsema")

Continue reading "Interview: Joel Rinsema (Phoenix Bach Choir)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

With Dan Zanes visiting Phoenix for the first time on tour with Dan Zanes and Friends less than two weeks from now, I thought it'd be a good time to catch up with the singer. I've done both these things before (seeing him perform in Tucson in April 2007 and interviewing him back in summer 2006), but nothing ever stands still in Dan Zanes' world these days. So I called him up in Puerto Rico and chatted a bit.

Read on for his views on what makes a good Dan Zanes and Friends concert and what he does the first time he visits a city. (Phoenix-area readers, feel free to chime in with suggestions for what he should do here.) Find out about the upcoming album, ¡Nueva York!

And even if you've never even been to Phoenix, you'll want to read the end of the interview where I find out exactly what he was doing in Puerto Rico and what Paul McCartney has to do with it. Trust me, it's worth the time. (And thanks to Dan for making the time.)

Zooglobble: How would you describe a Dan Zanes and Friends concert?
Dan Zanes: As much like a little Grateful Dead show as possible. I try to make the theatre feel like your living room. There's lots of people singing along, lots of people on stage, and as much roaming around, laughing, and crying as possible. And then the whole dissolves into a whole dance party. I want everybody who comes to feel like we're all in this together.

What's your favorite part of the show?
Two things: first, how much people throw themselves into singing. Are they singing their heads off? Second, what's the level of the dancing? Are the aisles filled? How many people are upfront? How much chaos? How intense does it get?

I can't even remember the last show where people didn't dance. In the world of young people, it's so much how they relate... in a physical way.

Continue reading "Interview: Dan Zanes" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of my favorite songs from the 1990s was the soaring alterna-rocker "Lighthouse Keeper," by a musician by the name of Kevin Salem. Fast-forward a decade, and in this brave new world of kids and family music, I was surprised and, well, pleased to hear that Salem had started up Little Monster Records, a label just for kids' music. Salem, who spends much of his time now producing others' records rather than recording his own, along with his wife Kate Hyams, who spent many years as a label executive, have put together an exciting roster of artists who show every sign of releasing music that is definitely not the typical kids' music fare.

Kevin Salem recently took the time to answer a few questions. Read on for how views on kids in the recording studio have changed over the year, his vision for the label, how his least favorite baseball team inspired his label's latest record, and future projects...

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Kevin Salem: There were a few different sources for me growing up. My parents were Arabic and played a lot of Arabic music and I grew up in a small coal and steel town where there was a lot of rootsy music, so that stuff was always in the air. My dad was a jazz singer and trumpeter, so the first songs I sang were things like ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ and ‘Sunny Side of the Street.’ I lived with two sisters and my cousins who are quite a bit older than me and turned me on to a lot of the things I have loved all my life -- the Beatles and Stones, Dylan, Motown, Neil Young... all things countercultural. I remember watching the Beatles at shea stadium on TV and wondering what was wrong with all the teenage girls in my family. When I was 5, some teenagers from my family’s church had a cover band called ‘Grapes of Wrath.’ I saw them play 'Little Bit of Soul’ at a church picnic and decided on the spot that I was gonna be a rock and roll guitarist. It was the best decision I ever made.

Continue reading "Interview: Kevin Salem (Little Monster Records)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ask anyone who attends a Dan Zanes concert and they'll tell you that the most energetic point in the show is the entrance of longtime Zanes collaborator Father Goose. When he strides onstage, Father Goose (known to others as Rankin' Don or even Wayne Rhoden) works to bring the whole crowd to their feet.

Now, with the recent release of his first album for Zanes' Festival Five Records, It's A Bam Bam Diddly!, one of 2007's best kids and family music albums as judged by this year's Fids & Kamily Poll Father Goose has started to carve out a name as a family music ringleader in his own right.

Father Goose recently answered a few questions about his musical upbringing and approach on his latest CD. Read on for what music he listened to growing up ("The Gambler?"), how he put together his latest album, and what exactly he does while waiting to go on stage at a Dan Zanes show.

Oh, and read on for a free download from the latest CD, courtesy of Festival Five Records. (It's for a limited time, so grab it while you can.)

Thanks to Father Goose for taking the time to answer the questions...

Photo courtesy Arthur Elgort

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Zooglobble: What music do you remember listening to or singing growing up?
Father Goose: Growing up in Jamaica, which is known as the birthplace of reggae music, you would be surprised of the many other genres of music that are played on the island. I sang along to our superstars Bob Marley, Toots & The Maytals, Lee "Scratch" Perry and out of the USA I listened to Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, James Brown and numerous others, even some from Europe.

Who (artists, parents, etc.) were your biggest musical influences?
My parents were great in that they did not set any limits as to the type of music I would listen to. That in itself was a blessing because without them my musical voyage would not have begun.

When did you decide you wanted to become a performer?

Continue reading "Interview: Father Goose (aka Rankin' Don aka Wayne Rhoden)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With her dress and pigtails, the uni-monikered Gwendolyn has a lot of fans amongst the preschool set in the Los Angeles area. Of course, she's got a bunch of fans amongst those preschoolers' parents, too, as her music manages to be targeted directly at the young'uns while still appealing to the oldsters' ears.

Now, with Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang's first East Coast Tour really getting going this weekend (updated tour dates here), if you're in the neighborhood, you should definitely stop by a show.

And even if you're not in the neighborhood, you should read the interview below with Gwendolyn, who kindly answered questions this week. Read on for her musical influences, how recording her second and most recent kids' CD, Get Up & Dance!, differed from recording the first, and exactly how many hours of yoga a good show for the kids is worth.

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What are your earliest musical memories?
Family hootenannies in the living room. My dad would play guitar and my mom would join him and sing songs. They had a nice repertoire of Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, The Incredible String Band and the like.

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?
Aside from my siblings, who are both excellent songwriters, I would name Thom Moore, a childhood friend of mine who plays now in The Moore Brothers. They just opened for Joanna Newsom in Europe. He was a great influence growing up, a Robyn Hitcock of sorts. I love songwriters, storytellers and innovative artists like Nick Drake, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan...

I didn't listen to much children's music growing up - but I loved artists that embraced a child-like perspective, like Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, Jethro Tull and early Pink Floyd - Syd Barrett, really wonderful stuff. My dad had a pretty decent record collection that inevitably became his children's.

Continue reading "Interview: Gwendolyn (of Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Audra Tsanos, the driving force behind the New York band AudraRox, seems to know every kids' musician in New York. In AudraRox, she's assembled her own set of talented musicians whose debut CD, 2006's I Can Do It By Myself, ran the gamut from country to slick power-pop and very kid-targeted lyrics.

Audra kindly answered a few questions about her musical upbringing and AudraRox's formation, among other things. Read on for the story behind Audra's first band name, her experience in a Music for Aardvarks cover band, and, yes, the title to their upcoming CD.

Thanks to Audra for the interview (and the accompanying photo).

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1. What are your musical memories growing up?
I was raised by fundamentalist Christians in Kansas City, Kansas - so my first musical and theatrical experiences were in the church. I sang my first solo when I was 2, did my first musical at church when I was 7 and joined the adult choir at 11. On my own I listened to bad Top 40. I won the talent show in high school my freshman year. I put together a band with the bass player from the jazz band and a sax player, played piano and sang Whitney Houston's' "Savin' All My Love for You." YUCK!

My best friend in high school, Linda Amayo, played Ella Fitzgerald for me. The only cassette tapes I owned when I went to college were The Police, The Doors, and Sade. Hats off to Joetta, my first roommate from California - she played me The Violent Femmes, The Smiths, Billie Holiday, and Bessie Smith. Then I dated and married a guy who had an album collection of about 1,000 and finally, I grew up musically!

I'm a late bloomer.

Continue reading "Interview: Audra Tsanos (AudraRox)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ella Jenkins is a legend.

There are rising stars, stars, and superstars in the kids' music world, but Ella Jenkins is a flat-out legend, even though she might demur at the use of such a word.

Three weeks ago, just after her birthday, I talked with her about her start in the field of kids' music, her approach, and her long career recording for Folkways Recordings (now Smithsonian Folkways). Read on for her thoughts on all those things, plus find out one of her nicknames, how she chose the ukelele as an instrument, and be amazed by exactly how many languages she can use in one conversation.

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Zooglobble: The first thing I wanted to say is Happy Belated Birthday.

Ella Jenkins: Oh, thank you! I feel honored. I never tire of people saying it.

So you had a concert on Monday?

Yes. One of the branch libraries were celebrating their tenth anniversary. The person who had introduced me to that library, his name is Scott Draw. I had worked with him at another library, and he knew my birthday was on August 6th and he said, "That's when we're having our anniversary party, it would be nice if we could coordinate it. The Friends of the Library said they'd be happy to engage you if you could do a mini-concert."

And everybody sang Happy Birthday to you, I hope?

Oh, yes, they did that. We were trying to save it for the end, but somebody jumped the gun, I think [Laughs].

This is the fiftieth anniversary of your first album's release on Smithsonian Folkways [in 1957]...

I went to New York City in 1956 and met Moses Asch, who had faith in me and felt there was a possibility [of releasing an album]. He said, send me some material. I had actually brought him a demo disk with about four different songs. He said, you can probably do a recording, but you need to expand a bit, add a little instrumentation, and maybe we can do an album with you. But in the meantime, let's sign a contract, which let me know he was really serious.

That was in 1956, but in 1957 is when he released the album. It was a 10-inch [LP] and it was called Call and Response: Rhythmic Group Singing. That was my focus on how I would teach music, the call and response approach.

How did you settle on call and response as the primary way you wanted to teach music and lead and sing music?

Continue reading "Interview: Ella Jenkins" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Lloyd Miller is the chief songwriter and ringleader (Ulysses Dee) of the New York City-based band The Deedle Deedle Dees. On their excellent latest album, Freedom in a Box (review), they mix very punk songs like "Obedience School" with hook-y history songs like "Henry Box Brown." Somehow, it all works.

Lloyd recently answered some questions about his musical history and history in general. Read on for his views on saving social studies from sucking, playing the double bass, Satchel Paige, and Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler." (And thanks to Lloyd for the time.)

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What are your earliest memories of listening to music? Playing music?
As a kid, music was usually something I did at church or school and I have mostly negative memories of it. Probably because "music" to me meant sitting in your folding chair and singing the same songs every week in unison. I can remember very vividly sitting on the concrete steps outside this portable where I had music class for many years -- I was sent out there on a regular basis because I misbehaved in some way, I can't remember how.

The only school song I remember enjoying went "Old Roger is dead and laid in his grave, laid in his grave, laid in his grave / Old Roger is dead and laid in his grave / Hee Ha! Laid in his grave." There were a few verses, each with a related motion. In my favorite verse, Roger jumps up and gives "a fright" to an old woman who is picking apples from the tree that grows over him. I've tried to do this song at my sing-a-longs in Brooklyn but no one seems to know it.

Other music that made an impression was of the mass-produced variety. At some point I got the Disco Duck album and that was very important. That Davy Crockett song was the only song I sang for a period of months in early elementary school. And, oh man, "The Gambler." At about age seven, I asked this guy with a guitar at a restaurant to play it and he did and it was the most amazing thing. I listened to this song recently and was quite bored.

As far as playing music goes, most of my early history took place in the back row (I was tall) of some huge group singing some badly-written Bible song. It wasn't until junior high that I discovered -- simultaneously -- the mirror and David Lee Roth and began performing lip-sync concerts that eventually led to me joining a real band with other human beings. Naturally this first band was a heavy metal cover band and I was the lead singer. Sweet Emotion was our name and we played the first of our two gigs at a church dance.

Continue reading "Interview: Lloyd Miller (Ulysses Dee of the Deedle Deedle Dees)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

And every audience is different and every audience, the vibe is different and influences what the show becomes and it's a marvelous dialogue because there is that push and pull. There are artists that stick to a set list, but to me that's missing half the fun. To me the fun of it is that if you're in tune with the audience, they help lead the artist.

Covert took some time out of his schedule a couple weeks ago to chat with me about his tour, performing, writing songs, and watching his daughter grow older. All that while worrying about a lost tour banner. (You'll have to read on...)

Zooglobble: Thank you for taking the time with me for a few minutes about this tour. So you just played the House of Blues and the Fillmore in San Francisco -- what was that like?

Ralph Covert: Oh my gosh, it was a blast. Both shows went great. The Fillmore, I mean, how cool does it get? It was really neat because one of the reasons we've tried so hard to do stuff like this tour where we've tried to keep the rock 'n' roll vibe in the Ralph's World show and bring it to these rock 'n' roll venues is so that parents and kids can have that shared experience. It's cool for the parents because it still has that authentic rock 'n' feel and it's cool for the kids because they get to go somewhere they never would get to go.

And at the Fillmore the parents were excited to be there and the kids were excited about having their first concert at the Fillmore, and the band's excited... One of the stage managers said he felt it was the best show they had there all year. Musically, it was great, but even more important than that, every audience member walked out with a smile and every staff member was grinning from ear to ear for the entire show.

Are you doing anything different on this tour? I know you've played some larger venues in the past (such as Ravinia and the Jamarama tour) but are you doing anything different since you're playing larger houses and more traditional rock venues?

Well, Jamarama tour was one of these packaged tours with a bunch of different acts with their little slot. Most of the other acts were pretty much more in the traditional kids' pop thing where they're playing the tracks. They're entertaining the kids but they're not doing it by playing real instruments and playing rock. There are some that are doing that and I think that's great -- that's part of the whole new wave we're part of.

But the Jamarama tour is very much about that other packaged thing. What we're doing, really at the heart of it, it's a rock concert experience for kids. To that end, it's exciting to take that kind of rock 'n' roll energy to a big venue, to a rock venue like the House of Blues, like the Fillmore, because we obviously know from many years of social and cultural experience that rock shows are pretty fun. [Laughs]

Is that a sociological statement there?

It is a sociological statement -- rock shows are fun.

Continue reading "Interview: Ralph Covert (Ralph's World)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

When the children’s thing came knocking at the door, it was a light I hadn’t seen before. Children: they’re honesty, they’re excitement, they’re real human hearts, right in front of you. My first gig with the kids changed everything. It suddenly gave me this focus I hadn’t experienced before.

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My earliest memories of listening to music: I’m standing in my sister’s room at about 6 years-old, and I’m listening to The Cars, Duran Duran, The Cure, Joy Division . . . Hm, some other girly stuff I can’t remember. I do remember her room was full of colorful, little knick-knacks you get from the mall, little clippings of cute 80’s musicians on the floor, pink Good ‘n Plenty candy boxes on the bed -- I didn’t feel very hardcore in there.

I have older brothers too. My oldest brother, Paul, was a Deadhead at the age of fifteen, so all I heard from his room was “Terrapin Station” and “Shake Down Street.” (1985: my brother is burning incants and designing airports for fun -- Paul was a very smart kid.) My other brother, Yorgo, was into The Police and U2 (the early stuff, which I think is the best). Let’s see what else . . . oh, Bob Marley, The Beatles (The White Album), Peter Gabriel, Steve Miller, Pink Floyd, Midnight Oil, The Stones -- Yorgo had more music because he had more money than anyone else, and he was still a teenager. He was really good at holding jobs.

The first record I ever put on by myself was “Eye of the Tiger.” How funny is that? Life is full of strange stuff. I didn’t really play a lot of music until high school. This guy Jake was playing “Come As You Are” at lunchtime. It looked so simple and so cool. I wanted to become the song. I went home that day, found my Mom’s old guitar in the closet, and played Kurt’s opening riff for hours. It took a while before I was able to play and sing. I thought you had to be like God in order to do that. In fact, I’m still learning how to do that.

I still play that same guitar every once in a while, It’s a 1965 Karl Hauser, hand-crafted in West Germany. My Mom played it at Willow Glen High School in 1966. I graduated from the same school 31 years later. She says the guitar sounds better today. I used that guitar in spots in “Sea Song” (The Great Adventures of Mr. David) I also used it in “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” in my first album for sentimental reasons.

I remember another enlightening experience I had with music was in 8th grade. It was during P.E., and we were walking the track because we were lazy skaters, with a typical 13 year-old bad attitude. My friend Sean takes off his head phones and says, “listen to this. . . . “GOOD DAY SUN SHINE, GOOD DAY SUN SHINE, GOOD DAY SUN SHINE, I NEED TO LAUGH AND WHEN THE SUN IS OUT . . . “ Oh, that got me running. End of story.

Continue reading "Interview: Mr. David" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Kids, for the most part, haven't yet learned not to laugh at themselves and the world around them. That's a really good and healthy place to be and as a performer and songwriter I feel a responsibility (and desire) to meet them there. Human beings are strange creatures--we should enjoy that.

What are your earliest memories of listening to music? Playing music?
My earliest memories of listening to music are with my grandparents. My grandfather is an accomplished pianist and cellist and he would sit at the piano and play (sometimes with me on his lap) while my grandmother leaned against the piano and sang. Those are very warm memories.

Reportedly, I was an excellent pot and pan musician as a toddler. I'd pull them out of the kitchen cabinets and start banging away. I believe I was particularly proficient on the 14" sauté pan and the 3 qt. boiler. You'd have thought my parents would have figured a few things out and moved the pots and pans to the cabinets above the counter---guess I’m thankful that they didn't.

You have had a long and successful career playing in the band you helped form, Eddie From Ohio. How did you get from that to putting out a kids' album?

Continue reading "Interview: Robbie Schaefer" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It is not hyperbole to suggest that Dan Zanes is the godfather of the 21st century family music scene. If there's an article talking about the scene, he's sure to be quoted, and he's been kind in his praise for other kids' music artists, Elizabeth Mitchell and Justin Roberts, to name just two. With five kids' music CDs (the latest being Catch That Train!) and a DVD, plus videos on Playhouse Disney, Zanes has steadily built a devoted following among kids and their associated adults (our family included).

Zanes was kind enough to spend some time talking with me last week about a broad range of family music (or, as he's also termed it, "age-desegregated music") topics. Our conversation touched on, among other things, his upcoming tour of Australia, why new parents are great audiences, and the benefit CD he's recently put together. Read on, and enjoy.

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Zooglobble: Did you have a good summer? You've got a really busy fall coming up, so I hope you got some vacation in.

Dan Zanes: I did, yeah. Every summer we go up to Nova Scotia for a week with my mother and brother-in-law (Donald Saaf). We always do a gospel show up there and end up playing songs from the next CD. A lot comes out of it, so it's nice being completely removed from civilization.

It must be nice, to not have to deal with the computer and the phone all the time.

Yeah, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to, I'm so far removed from things. The lack of communication is very healthy.

It's good to have time off.

Yeah, I sort of hate it, but I'm really grateful for it. It's really nice to have family time. It's sort of amazing how the years pass by.

I know -- my daughter started kindergarten couple week ago, and I'm thinking, "She's starting kindergarten? She can't be starting kindergarten!"

[Laughs] Wasn't she born last month?

[Laughs] I understand.

My daughter's starting seventh grade now, and I can clearly remember seventh grade. It seems like every year it gets faster and faster... the compression of time... That was some of the advice I got. You know how everyone offers advice when you have a baby? The one thing that was really meaningful was people saying to remember to enjoy every day.

I try to remember that, even when the kids are frustrating me. "You're gonna miss this when they're ten years older."

That's really true. That brings its own joy and satisfaction. I guess fall brings these thoughts into our heads... I can't really remember what fall's like in Arizona.

Fall is a season of relief from the unremitting heat so we like fall because we're glad to see the three-digit temperatures go away. It's a nice time -- everybody comes out of hiberation. We go into hibernation, we just do it six months shifted from most of the rest of the country...

Is your whole family going to Australia with you [for the Melbourne International Arts Festival]?

Yeah, my wife and daughter are going for the first half of that trip -- that's going to be great. We're at a point now where my daughter is actually getting her artist's visa and; that was one way we were able to go. The Festival's paying for her plane ticket and she'll come join us. Her life's dream is not to play music for a living or anything even close to that but she really enjoys the social aspect, which is the most important aspect of it. She's able to play the ukelele... so we can all play together.

That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, playing there for a week.

The whole trip ends up being close to two weeks, really. It's amazing that we're doing it -- it's a really prestigious arts festival. It's a big deal to be a North American family musician getting to travel overseas. It's very rare for any of us to be able to break out of North America, so I'm hoping this is the beginning of a lot more international travel.

Continue reading "Interview: Dan Zanes" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

One of my main purposes in applying for the show was to have it be an adventure with Ella... It's nice that it's taken off as it seems to have, but my goal was, and remains, to have fun with Ella.

Bill's radio show/podcast Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child is a great way to hear songs from the artists we talk about here. (And then some -- if the number of artists referred to the other person could be viewed like the trade deficit, Bill is definitely the United States and I'm the rest of the world.) So I thought he'd make a great subject for our first non-musician interview here. Thanks to Bill for taking the time to answer my questions so thoughtfully.

When exactly is your anniversary?
8/13. The station went on the air on 8/7. Incidentally, the very first thing we did on the very first show was a mistake; I hit play on the wrong CD player and played a Laurie Berkner song instead of TMBG's "Dr. Worm."

How long have you been interested in kids and family music?

Continue reading "Interview: Bill Childs (Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our kids are a huge part of everything we do with the band. We took all the JAMband kids on tour (9 total) with us down to LA and they were exposed to all the pieces of what it means to have a band. There’s a Behind the Music series waiting to happen here. I’ll say no more.

Charity Kahn, founder and leader of the Bay Area-based funk/soul/whatever kids' group Charity and the JAMband, is a mother, musician, and mathematician. Or, at least, she has a mathematics degree. Charity took the time recently to answer a few questions of mine with her typical enthusiasm. Read on to find out about obsession with a certain '80s hair-metal band, her band's newest song, and the relationship of math to her music.

What music did you listen to growing up?
My folks are classically trained, and ran a piano studio forever. They also directed choirs, musicals, taught music in schools, and my dad’s been a church organist since he was 13. So the early years were filled with classical and sacred music and opera, a little jazz, show tunes, and my mom’s favorite, Johnny Mathis. And, of course, Free to Be, You and Me, John Denver and the Muppets, and all of Hap Palmer’s stuff. Next came the Carpenters, Chicago, the Jackson 5, Manhattan Transfer, until I finally discovered classic rock’n’roll. Led Zeppelin took me over for a few years (hasn’t let go, actually). And living in a small Midwestern town water skiing on summer lakes and partying in the woods and cornfields, I also had a Def Leppard obsession (still do, actually). The Grateful Dead came into the picture some time during teen-age hood. I was also performing a lot of classical, jazz, and swing music at the time (vocal and ensemble), so I loved listening to that stuff, too.

Was kids' music something you went into deliberately, or was it something you sort of stumbled into? ("Stumbled into" not meant pejoratively...)

Continue reading "Interview: Charity Kahn (Charity and the JAMband)" »

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The one thing I discovered from teaching preschool is you shouldn't have a preconceived notion of what kids will respond to. So I don't try to guess. -- Justin Roberts

With three CD releases in the past six months (the highly acclaimed Meltdown! and two "Why Not Sea Monsters?" scripture-related CDs with collaborator Liam Davis) and a very active 2006 touring schedule, Justin Roberts has been a very busy man as of late. Still, Justin must have exemplary time-management skills as he provided thoughtful responses to the questions below. Read on to find out which characters in Roberts' songs have echoes of Justin himself, who he's trying to please when writing songs, and what rocking out with kids is more fun than.

And thanks again to Justin for the interview.

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When did you realize that you were going to make making kids' music your career?
I put out Great Big Sun in 1997 right as I was entering graduate school at the University of Chicago. I had no intention at that time of becoming a kids music performer. However, after finishing my masters in religious studies, I decided rocking out with kids was a lot more fun than studying Sanskrit. I stand by that statement today.

How much of your music is based on memories from your own childhood compared to watching kids as an adult?
I take a lot of inspiration from my own childhood, little memories and events that I use as building blocks. But sometimes I just make it all up. I think when I'm writing a song I try to get into the characters head and tell his or her story. In the same way that I would when writing a song for adults. So, while I might be inspired by the kids in my neighborhood cranking out chalk art, the character in the song develops as the story comes out.

Continue reading "Interview: Justin Roberts" »

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"Lately, I’m becoming more focused on this idea that the songs and the music within them can be for the whole family."

Brady Rymer's fifth album Every Day Is A Birthday is a fun mix of songs dealing not only with the experience of childhood but also with the experience of parenthood. Rymer recently was kind enough to answer a few questions about his latest album, what it's like to be a kids' musician, and the strange effect of the Grateful Dead on his son.

Many thanks to Brady for taking the time to answer these questions. It's a long interview, but well worth the read.

Besides the concert hours, what are the biggest differences between being an "adult" musician (in From Good Homes) and a "kids" musician?
At a live show, the kids are roaring and ready from the first note, and I’ve got about 45 good minutes with them. The dynamic reminds me of those old rock ‘n’ roll road shows that had a handful of acts on the bill; each band would do a quick 30 minute set, and each of ‘em got the place rockin’, with their hits, from the get-go. When I was with From Good Homes we’d be onstage for hours; if I did that now, the parents might just be with me at the end of the show, but you know those little ones would be snoozin’ after a dozen songs. Other than that, there aren’t too many things that I approach differently. I want the music (and musicians) to be interactive and engaging, and I want the set to gain momentum and get lots of good energy flowing back and forth between audience and band, no matter who I’m playin’ for-- grandmas, toddlers, dads, whoever!

On "Every Day Is A Birthday," "Dilly Dally Daisy" clearly was inspired by your daughter. Are most of your songs based on your kids?
Certainly my kids bring home and inspire a lot of songs. Their worlds are so packed with crazy situations, colors, and events that you could probably write a record a day if you just followed ‘em around with a pen and guitar! It’s incredibly fun and refreshing as a songwriter to get down a little lower to the ground and look at the world through their eyes (this also helps me as a parent-- one great perk of my job). It’s exciting to me to bring this unique language to songwriting – it’s not every day you get to write about your baby’s last night in utero or how proud a kid is to see his big ol’ belly reflected in the mirror.
Other families and friends also inspire songs. “Full Moon Walk” developed out of a beautiful experience we shared with family friends; “Mama Hug” and “Keep Up With You” were inspired by conversations with friends and neighbors. The other day at Little League practice, one of the moms was telling me how she’s been in the backyard throwin’ the baseball with her son. And he said to her after a pitch, “who knew, Mom-- you have a great curve ball!” Now if that doesn’t sound like a cool song, I don’t know what does.

I've read a bit of parental frustration into "Instead of Watching My TV." Was that a case of over interpretation, or have there been times you've had to encourage your kids to go outside (or another room) and do stuff?
The TV song, along with “Look in your Pocket,” were definitely written with the challenges of parenting in mind. It’s an ongoing adventure to keep your kids creative and inspired. It takes a lot of energy as a parent-- so I guess those songs are just me tryin’ to help some kids that might be stuck. Sometimes they just need a little encouragement, a suggestion, and then they’re off & runnin.’

For instance, my son loves weeding the garden – he goes out there with his mom and they make it fun – he gets a penny a weed, and they have this rewarding thing that they share together. But it’s still a project to un-stick him from the cartoon-filled TV on Saturday mornings, no matter what! I don’t even know if “Blowin’ in the Wind” could accomplish that!

"Rock N Roll Mother Goose" is a fun song to listen to, with lots of energy. Was it fun for you to record the song?
It was a blast! I’m glad that spirit comes through on the recording. I remember getting into such a fun place singing it; I could have kept singing all night. It’s modeled after Ray Charles’ great song “Shake a Tail Feather”; if you listen to that recording, Ray and the band are having such a good, boisterous time, and I really wanted to capture their playfulness and exuberance. So yeah, I was boppin’ around the studio when we were working on that one, waggin’ my elbows, shakin’ my tail feather, doin’ the goose! As we added elements to the song – the keyboards, horns, backup vocals – it grew more and more exciting; we all had a lot of fun creating the song.

Which is harder for you to write -- music or lyrics? Why?
Lyrics, I guess. I grew up listening and learning songs from the radio, picking out the tune and playing it on my guitar, so I identified first with the chord changes and music, and then focused on the lyrics (usually getting a lot of them wrong!). That kind of changed when I heard Bob Dylan-- I was hit over the head with how beautiful, colorful and poignant lyrics could be. They seem to take a little more time; you want to make sure that they’re just right. Songs for me generally come pretty fast, at least the initial idea. Music and lyrics together, but then it just takes time for it to all settle down, for the right words, musical ideas and textures to fall into place. I think of it as a puzzle – at the end of the process, with some luck, all of the pieces of the song fit together.

The song “Diggin’ Up A Dinosaur” was inspired by a songwriter, David Wilcox, talking about his songwriting approach. He said that writing is like dusting off dinosaur bones that are in the ground, carefully, a little at a time; until eventually it all becomes clear. He described that so well; anyway, that idea eventually turned in to “Diggin’ Up A Dinosaur,” a song about discovering who we are.

How easy is it for you to write music that kids will relate to, but that parents might enjoy, too? Do you think you've improved your ability to do so over the years?
I have always written songs about the experience of being a parent, as well as the experience of being a kid. My earlier songs are more closely focused on a kid’s world; I think they work for parents because they’re written with love, and they’re honest and real, reflecting experiences we’ve all gone through in some way.

Lately, I’m becoming more focused on this idea that the songs and the music within them can be for the whole family. I think kids can handle a challenging lyric, or a metaphor, and certainly can enjoy listening to music that is layered with great instruments and played by great musicians. The lyrics are getting to a broader place: “Keep Up With You” speaks to everyone, and the band’s new favorite song “Road Trip,” which we’ve been playing a lot live, is the best so far in terms of communicating with the whole family. I really look forward to recording this next batch of tunes I have ready; I think they are going to be the most inclusive of families yet. I love this direction; it really feels right.

Aside from your music, what do your kids like to listen to?
Green Day, the current American Idols, Elvis, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Annie Lenox, Simple Plan, KISS, Chuck Berry…the list goes on and on! My kids’ tastes are pretty eclectic. We love introducing them to different kinds of music, and we play all sorts of stuff around here – gospel, old blues, rock n roll, you name it. I remember the first time my son heard the Grateful Dead; he was in his bed getting ready to go to sleep. The song came on and he just got up on his bed and started doing the trippy, spaced out, freeform dancing that goes on at Dead shows! I was amazed. He never saw his mother dance like that!, but there it was – reacting completely honestly and in spiritual synch with that music!

We like putting together iTunes Playlists together. You get a real variety that way and you can work on a theme, which is fun. For my daughter’s birthday party we made one playlist with a Rainbow theme: it has everything on it -- Lesley Gore and Louis Armstrong, Paul Anka, Willie Nelson, the Ramones and the Rolling Stones, and they enjoy it all.

What's next for you and the album?
Well, we are working real hard on making some videos. So many of the songs paint pictures and tell stories, and it’s really exciting to explore their visual possibilities.

I love doing live shows (I’ve loved it since I first played with a band in Junior High), and I have the best time onstage with The Little Band That Could. We are so excited with the response that Every Day Is A Birthday has received, and we’re working on getting some farther-flung tour dates, to get the live show out there to families across the country.

And like I said before, I can’t wait to start recording my new CD.

Continue reading "Interview: Brady Rymer" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After listening to Frances England's debut album Fascinating Creatures, I thought she would be a great artist to kick off an occasional series of interviews here on the website. I wanted to find out more about one of the most unique children's music albums I've heard in quite some time and the artist behind it.

England graciously agreed to the interview, even admitting that it was a "great excuse to stop studying." (Hey, anything I can do to help. I remember my own graduate school days.) Thank you very much, Frances.

This is a long interview, but worth your time.

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What sort of musical background or experience did you have prior to recording the CD?
I started playing the violin when I was young but slowly gave it up as I hit my teens and started playing guitar in college. I’ve never been in a formal band but have always enjoyed sitting around singing and playing music with people (mostly around campfires or at small parties and get-togethers).

What led you to recording Fascinating Creatures?
A couple of different things. After my son was born I started collecting kid’s music and for the most part was pretty disappointed in what I was finding (this is of course before I knew about cool blogs like yours that shine a bright, guiding light on this genre of music). [Ed. note: I swear, I made no request for such a comment.] Slowly, I started replacing the stuff I loved listening to – indie artists and bands like the Postal Service, Sufjan Stevens, M. Ward – with the Wiggles and Raffi. Don’t get me wrong, I know there is value in some of that stuff and Liam is a huge Wiggles fan but it wasn’t the type of music we could genuinely enjoy together. So I started writing songs that I hoped would appeal to both of us...

Continue reading "Interview: Frances England" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)