Fids and Kamily Awards -- the Best Kids Music of the Year -- Announced for 2019

Last month, the 14th edition of the Fids and Kamily Music Awards were announced. The annual survey of kids music writers, programmers, librarians, and other enthusiasts from across the country produced a list of their favorite kids music albums of the year (late 2018 through most of 2019) — a dozen ranked winners plus another 13 honorable mentions, a full 25 honorees. The winner in this year’s awards was the excellent don’t-call-it-a-holiday-album Winterland by The Okee Dokee Brothers, but you should go check out the entire list of recognized albums.

For what it’s worth, here’s my own personal ballot for this year’s F&K Awards. They’re not ranked because I gave them all equal weight in my ballot for this year’s awards. So, in alphabetical order by band:

Alegria - Sonia de los Santos

Finding Friends Far From Home - Oran Etkin

I’m from the Sun - Gustafer Yellowgold

Baby on the Subway - Camille Harris

Shake It and Break It - Randy Kaplan

Growing Up - Josh Lovelace

Buenos Diaz - The Lucky Band

Winterland - The Okee Dokee Brothers

A Cheerful Little Earful - Diana Panton

Backstroke Raptor - Story Pirates

This year’s process was bittersweet for me as F&K co-founder Bill Childs and I decided that this year’s awards would be the last. We wrote up our thoughts in this post, but the TL;DR is basically that kids and families aren’t listening to albums as much as they’re listening to streams these days, and there aren’t nearly as many people writing about albums, either. (It’s been awhile since this here website has tackled an album review, to provide a very pertinent example.) Bill and I have been clear that there will be no more Fids & Kamily Awards (though the website will live on for many years), but we are both hopeful that there will be something that replaces F&K in some way — we are both ready to participate in whatever might take its place.

I look at my list above and while I think it’s a solid list of ten excellent albums, I also see how I could’ve listed different albums who brought joy in other ways. And so I always enjoyed F&K because while it was based on people’s personal lists of favorites — personal lists that certainly were affected by each judge’s personal experience and tastes — by combining those lists, I thought it more closely arrived at something like a consensus. I don’t know if the idea of consensus is worth pursuing anymore, but for more than a decade, I hope the awards shined more light than there otherwise would be on albums popular and insufficiently noticed.

My Favorite (and the Best?) Kids Music of 2017

This past year has been challenging in terms of writing about kids music here at the site.  There are a variety of reasons for that -- you can read this post for a few thoughts in that regard -- but the fact remains I haven't reviewed as many albums.  I'm still receiving -- and listening to -- a lot of kids music, but those thoughts haven't been translated into words on a screen.  It took me, sadly, 'til the end of April 2017 to write up thoughts on the best kids music of 2016, for an album award year that ended more than 6 months before.

As for this most recent year, I did once again submit my votes for the annual Fids and Kamily Awards I co-coordinate.  You can read all about the 2017 Fids and Kamily Award winners here, but I do feel compelled to list my own ballot in the same year the awards were announced.  (Small victories, amirite?)

Looking over this list, I'm once again struck by how my own personal favorites once again fell back on familiar and long-time names....

Fids & Kamily 2017 Award Winners Announced!

Lucky Diaz - "Made in L.A." album cover

One of the highlights of every year for me is compiling and announcing the winners of the Fids and Kamily Awards.  F&K, as I call it (mostly because I'm constantly having to override computers' desires to autocorrect "Fids" to "Kids" and "Kamily" to "Family"), pulls together top ten lists from kids music DJs, critics, and others who spend a lot of time listening to kids music.  Seriously -- with the exception maybe of a few kids musicians, I can't think of anyone who listens to more.

So the albums selected by this group are inevitably solid picks, a fine introduction to the year's best and most distinctive music for kids and families.  This year's winner, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band's Made in L.A., is no exception to the rule -- it's fantastic.

But all the albums are worth a listen, and you can see the complete list of the Top 10 winners, along with ten more Honorable Mentions, over at this year's announcement page.  We even tried something new this year, a listing of judges' five favorite singles-only releases.  I personally will always be biased in favor of whole albums (and this year's winner, a conceptual album of sorts inspired by living in a particular place, illustrates the benefit of such a longer-form vessel), but there's no denying that more and more artists, including kindie musicians, are not choosing to wait to release a dozen songs in one fell swoop, and we wanted to see if we could capture the best of those restless musicians this time.

Anyway, thanks to the judges for voting, and thanks to the musicians for making such great music!

My Favorite (and the Best?) Kids Music of 2016

In past years, I have written a lot about my favorite kids music over the prior year -- here's my summary of the best kids music of 2015 -- but the past year or so has been more challenging for me in terms of writing reviews of kids music.  That doesn't mean that I still haven't been listening to a lot of kids music, just that I haven't felt compelled to share my thoughts about it as much.

I did, of course, submit my votes for the annual Fids and Kamily Awards I co-coordinate, and sadly I've never actually listed my albums here.  You can read all about the 2016 Fids and Kamily Award winners here, but for posterity's sake I feel compelled to list my own ballot, even if the eligibility window closed on Sept. 30, 2016, several months ago.  (As you look at the list below, you'll note that I was not big into distinctions this year -- a lot of ties.)

A lot of my overall thoughts for the year match those of the prior year -- lots of great music, but a feeling that I wasn't introduced to as many new artists as I have in years past.  And the changing economics I discussed in my 2015 summary continue apace -- I believe it is increasingly more difficult for artists to make a musical living in this genre unless they diversify greatly and move beyond album sales and touring in purely entertainment settings.  When everything is available on Spotify, you have to find your tribe, and I'm not sure if Spotify (and streaming generally) helps or hurts in that regard.

In any case, this is late enough as it is, so enough of my yappin', let's boogie!

1.  Explorer of the World - Frances England

2.  Why? - They Might Be Giants

3. (tie)  Are You Listening? - The Not-Its

3. (tie)  Phineas McBoof Crashes the Symphony - Doctor Noize

5. (tie) Infinity Plus One - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

5. (tie) Music Is Everywhere - Mista Cookie Jar

5. (tie) Ear Snacks: Songs from the Podcast - Andrew & Polly

5. (tie) Mi Viaje: De Nuevo León to the New York Island - Sonia De Los Santos

5. (tie) Wake Up and Sing - Red Yarn

5. (tie) Owl Singalong - Raffi