Review: An Elephant Never Forgets - Owen Duggan

This album is a couple years old, but Owen Duggan's sweet little album An Elephant Never Forgets has been digitally remixed and remastered and is casting a bigger distribution net. I've given it a couple spins recently and it hasn't changed my thoughts. The old version sounded just fine to me, so the remastering isn't a big deal, but if you're in the mood for nice little Raffi / Timmy Abell kids' CD, I stand fully behind my original review, reprinted below... ****** I would call Owen Duggan the "next Raffi," but the problem is, I already did that with someone else. And even if I no longer believed it (which I do), it would look pretty foolish of me to recant scant weeks later. So let me put it this way -- Owen Duggan is Raffi. Or, to put it another way, Duggan's late 2005 debut album An Elephant Never Forgets is the album that Raffi could've recorded after The Corner Grocery Store, had he decided to continue mining the vein of classic kids' songs, folk songs, and other musical traditions instead of becoming increasingly concerned with ecology and children -- all Good Things, no doubt, but far from where Raffi started. But Duggan has the sweet voice (here's a man who needs to record "Puff the Magic Dragon") and talented backing musicians that makes Raffi's work so pleasant to listen to. Duggan, a San Antonio-based music teacher, has put together a wonderful group of musicians to back up this collection of Duggan originals and classic tunes. The gentle humor of the album is evident in one of my favorite tracks, the zippy "The Ants," better known as "The Ants Go Marching." Duggan and his band gives the song an increasingly manic energy, which is released in a jazzy musical outro. I especially liked the brass work of Ron Wilkins throughout the album, but the whole set of jazz and folk musicians who back him up are top-notch. The music switches between gentle kids folk music (the Duggan original "The Elephant Song" and "I Got the Baby Blues"), covers of classics ("Tom Paxton's oft-recorded "The Marvelous Toy"), authentic folk music (the energetic fiddle tune "The Green Meadow"), and jazz (the Ellington/Strayhorn "Happy Go Lucky Local"). Duggan closes out the album with a couple lovely lullabies, which seems to be the standard for kids' albums nowadays. (Almost makes me nostalgic for the Raffi albums, which sometimes ended up an uptempo note.) This album is targeted right at kids ages 2 through 6. You can hear a couple full tracks here, hear samples here, and order the disk at Duggan's website or the standard Amazon/CDBaby/iTunes trio. If Raffi makes your eyelid twitch erratically, I really can't recommend the disk to you. But if you have an appreciation for Raffi's work, and are looking for something else besides to play, An Elephant Never Forgets is a nice collection, a little jazzier, a little poppier than Raffi, and every bit as well done. Recommended.

Austin Kiddie Limits 2008 Preview: Jambo

In my ongoing series of previews of the artists who will be playing the Austin Kiddie Limits stage at the 2008 edition of the Austin City Limits Festival, next up is Jambo. (Previous artists: Buck Howdy with BB, Uncle Rock). First, the technical specs... -- Official Website -- YouTube channel -- Myspace page -- Zooglobble archives Whereas Uncle Rock explores the "rock" side of roots rock, Jambo (AKA Steve Pierson and his band), from Southern California, explores the bluesier side of roots rock. Not in any "my baby left me" sort of way, but he does play a pretty slick guitar. Oh, he also sings about ladybugs, dogs, and other topics left virtually unexplored by, say, BB King. Jambo is one of the AKL veterans -- they played the stage last year -- so he'll at least be smart enough not to wear something insanely warm. And it'll be a good, solid set. Jambo plays Friday at 1:30, and Saturday at 11:30 as well. Jambo - "Where Do They Go?" (Live)

One more live video after the jump.

Review in Brief: I Count To Ten and other Very Helpful Songs - David Tobocman

It's been nearly 7 months since I first watched (and wrote about) David Tobocman's fabulous video for his song "Home." (If you haven't watched it, stop reading this, click on the link, and see you back here in about 3 minutes. Really. Go now.) Clearly I liked the video, so you might be wondering, why in the world haven't I review the rest of Tobocman's debut, I Count To Ten and other Very Helpful Songs? And the answer is... well, I have no good reason. I can't blame this on the dog eating the CD or a snowstorm -- sometimes good CDs just don't get reviewed on the site in a timely manner. In any case, many CDs attempt to impart lessons to kids -- I know, I've heard a lot of them -- but very few do so in a totally appealing musical manner. This CD easily makes that small but distinguished list. I think there are a couple reasons for it. The first is that the songs are, for the most part, solid. The jazzy title track and "Brush Your Teeth," the pop of "My Rainbow," the country, banjo-inflected "Buttons and Bows" -- they're great melodies back up by well-crafted instrumentation. And more than half a year after I first heard it, I'm still moved by "Home," easily one of the top kids music tracks of the year. The second reason for the album's appeal I think is that instead of conveying its lessons as a direct "you should do X" or "everybody feel Y," the lyrics are sometimes sung from a first-person perspective, telling the listener how the singer reacts. So the singer counts to ten and doesn't feel so angry ("I Count to Ten"), or the singer keeps his pajamas on through the night ("Jammies Song," based on a real-life problem Tobocman encountered with his daughter). It's not always the case, but there's very little sense of "should" here, and that makes the lessons easier for everyone to take. The songs are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. You can hear lengthy clips from the 33-minute album here and here. David Tobocman's I Count to Ten and other Very Helpful Songs is a solid little album. I can't guarantee your kids won't blow their top as much or brush their teeth more willingly with repeated listens, but I'm pretty sure you or your kids won't blow your tops if you listen to this a lot. Recommended.

Austin Kiddie Limits 2008 Preview: Uncle Rock

In the days leading up to the 2008 edition of the Austin City Limits Festival, I'm going to be giving brief previews of the artists who will be playing the Austin Kiddie Limits stage. This is the second in the series (Buck Howdy with BB's preview is here). So, first are the technical specs for Uncle Rock... -- Official Website -- YouTube channel -- Myspace page -- Zooglobble archives Uncle Rock (AKA Robert Burke Warren), from upstate New York, plays all-ages roots rock. But he doesn't limit himself just to straight-ahead roots rock. His latest album, Uncle Rock U., shows Warren's willingness to assume character personas in song, play homage to James Brown, and generally have lots of fun. Given his background playing bass for the Fleshtones and portraying Buddy Holly in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, it should be a solid live show. Uncle Rock kicks off the AKL stage on Friday at 11:30, and plays Saturday at 12:30 as well. Uncle Rock - "Break A Few Eggs" (Live)

My favorite Uncle Rock video, plus one more from his latest album, is after the jump.

Kids Music In My Adult World, Part 2: When I'm Alone

Last week I wrote about how kids music had made small inroads into my workout mix, so that I have Ralph's World and the Hipwaders scattered amongst my U2 and LCD Soundsystem tracks. Today I'm going to give you a list of ten kids music albums I've listened to without my kids around. Not in a mindless "it's in the CD player and I'm too lazy to change disks" or "I need to review this" way, but in an active, "I want to listen to that along with that Spoon disk and the new Kathleen Edwards" way. They're also disks that I can see myself listening to 10 or 15 years from now when I'm out of the primary age range for most of these albums. Now, before I provide this list, I should note that this is in no way my list of favorite kids' albums, though I think some of these albums would definitely make that list. In fact, I think sometimes I look so favorably on these albums as a result of how they please the "adult" sensors in my brain and it overrides the "kids" sensors. I mean, I think Justin Roberts and Recess Monkey and Laurie Berkner and many others put out great albums. And there are some songs on their albums that I would gladly listen to deep into old age. But would I listen to Whaddaya Think of That? 10 years from now? I doubt it. It's not wrong in the way having the Disney Channel on one of the gym TV sets this morning was wrong (what was somebody thinking?), but I just don't myself being interested except mostly as nostalgia. The list and a few thoughts are after the jump... feel free to add your list of CDs that have become more yours than your kids in the comments.

Concert Series Abounding

A quick shout-out to Bill over at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, who's putting together a sweet little concert series up in Northampton, including Elizabeth Mitchell, Uncle Rock, and Aric Bieganek. (And maybe more.) See? This is why I like co-sponsoring shows with him. (Austin folks! Family Music Meltdown 2 is just 2 1/2 weeks away!)