Never Mind the Rain is the debut album from DC-area musician
Tracey Eldridge, but she's been making kids music for a couple decades now.
Perhaps that helps explain the evident care and craft that's gone into the CD, a collection of kids' pop originals that traverses many musical styles, from the big band sounds of "Tommy Builds a Band / Tommy's Big Parade" (which mixes in snippets of "When the Saints Go Marching In") to the boogie woogie of "Buzzy Bumblebee."
Eldridge will occasionally include spoken-word intros to songs, and on some songs she's clearly try to teach something about the world at large. It's all well-done, but not everybody will groove to that approach, so that's my warning for ya. Personally, I preferred the slightly more offbeat and less message-oriented songs, like the goofy "Corn Chips" (a tribute to the
very goofy Slim Gaillard, known for his song "Potato Chips," among others), "Oh, Zydeco" (on which Eldridge channels fellow DC-area musician Mary Chapin Carpenter), or "Beware of the Wily 'Ol Crocodile," where Eldridge cedes lead vocals on a very Grinchian track to her producer and musical partner Mookie Siegel.
The songs are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear samples at Eldridge's website or
the album's CDBaby page.
I know my audience well enough to know that this album won't be the favorite of every family looking for new music. But
Never Mind the Rain is a collection of, well, sunny, positive, and occasionally educational kids music of every genre and there will be a few families that find that combination wonderful.
The latest album from Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang, Get Up & Dance!, was released last week, and we've got a copy with your name on it.
Well, technically speaking, it doesn't really have your name on it. I mean, that would imply that the fix is in for this contest and that every single reader is a winner, which isn't true.
Oh, I mean, you're all winners in the very global sense of being worthwhile people. But in another, more real sense, one of you (whose name, I would re-emphasize, is not yet known to me) is a winner, and the rest of you, while not exactly losers, are non-winners. Winning-challenged. Left holding a bag devoid of winning.
But, yes, thanks to Gwendolyn herself, not only do we have a copy of the new album, we also have a copy of their live concert DVD, Live in Grandma's Living Room. We're giving this combo away to one lucky reader. (If you're not familiar with the GTG music, get yourself on over to their music page and click on any one of their three albums to listen to streaming samples. You want to enter.)
What do you need to do? Post in the comments the name of the hairdo Gwendolyn wears and your favorite person (real or fictional) who also sports a similar hairdo. I will randomly select one winner from all entries. All entries are due by 8 PM MST Tuesday, January 30. Good luck!
(Photo courtesy Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang)
A couple months ago, I 
