11 Obscenely Optimistic Songs... cover
I'm a longtime fan of Jeremy Messersmith, dating back to seeing him at SXSW in 2010. At the time, he was prepping an album called The Reluctant Graveyard, a baker's dozen of songs about death and dying, not exactly the prototypical album you'd expect to be featured on a kids music website. (Note: it wasn't featured here, though it's a pretty great album.)
A couple weeks ago, Messersmith released 11 Obscenely Optimistic Songs For Ukulele: A Micro Folk Record For The 21st Century And Beyond, an album of, well, that album title says it all. The songs are 100% delightful and, even better, if you sign up for Messersmith's mailing list via his website, you can get a copy of a ukulele songbook for the entire album, a task I highly recommend following through on. The songs are a bunch of fun to play, and they're not terribly challenging for anyone with the barest of uke skills.
While I think all of the songs could probably fit unchallenged as a cover on a kids' album, I thought I'd feature the leadoff track, "Everybody Gets a Kitten" because, you know, kittens.
Jeremy Messersmith: "Everybody Gets a Kitten" [YouTube]
