It's not often ignorance can make for a better review, but it just might in this case. Selected ignorance, in any case. I was actually familiar with
Caroline Herring's recording of
The Little House Songs, an album (or musical, really) based on the 1942 book
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. I also followed the Atlanta-based Herring as she financed the album via a
successful Kickstarter campaign. But the book itself? Sorry, it's one of those Caldecott Medal winners I missed. (I had to check Wikipedia for the publication date.)
So while I can't say whether the album adequately reimagines an obviously well-loved book, I can say whether it
evokes a well-loved book, and on that score, it succeeds. In brief -- and I say this solely based on listening to the album (though I've now since seen the summary) -- a house is built in the country, an expanding city encroaches upon it, it falls into disrepair, a new owner falls in love with it and moves it into the country once again. Obviously there are themes of wistfulness and the passage of time, and Herring does a great job of conveying those themes musically, such as on the wistful "The City Grew Up Around Her" and "Shabby." But it's not entirely downbeat -- "Building of the Road" is an uptempo folk-rocker propulsively carried along by rhythm guitar and Herring's voice until it just slows down, while I loved the violin's mimicking of wheels on happy "House on Wheels." It's mostly folk, with some songs tending a little more country, all tastefully arranged.
Kids ages 3 through 7 will most appreciate the 25-minute album. You can listen to all of "House on Wheels"
here and other clips
here and
here.
The Little House Songs is a simple little album, made with care, much as the book that inspired it was. (It's also made me want to read the book, which is always a good sign of the quality of an interpretation in a different medium.) Herring reportedly is interested in doing more of these albums based on children's books. Based on this first attempt, I am hoping she is true to her word. Recommended.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the album in my registration bag at Kindiefest.
Recently, Steve Denyes, the hardworking songwriter behind the Southern California duo Hullabaloo, came to me with a suggestion. He said that he'd participated in songwriting clubs where a group of musicians are given a song title or phrase and use that as a jumping-off point for writing a song. And, given my big interest in collaboration, he was wondering whether or not I'd be interested in hosting a songwriting club for family musicians.
I think you probably can guess my answer.
So I'm excited to announce the creation of the Kindie Songwriting Club and the first set of participants. Denyes went up and down the West Coast, picking some of his favorite songwriters and making some new friends, resulting in these five fine songwriters (going up the coast from south to north):
Steve Denyes from Hullabaloo (San Diego)
Gregory Hollow Tree from The Hollow Trees (Los Angeles)
Charity Kahn from Charity and the JAMband (San Francisco)
Matt Clark (Portland)
Johnny Bregar (Seattle)
The basic concept of the KSC is this:
1) Readers suggest a song title. Or two. Or twenty. Go ahead, stuff the ballot box!
2) I pick 3, then readers vote on their favorite.
3) The favorite having been chosen, the songwriters craft a song using that song title as inspiration.
4) They record that song however they'd like (though this isn't intended to require fancy studio time).
5) The songs get posted for your enjoyment.
6) World peace is achieved. (OK, probably not. But I'm not ruling it out.)
So it's time for the first step -- your suggested song titles. Post 'em here in the comments, on Facebook, or even send me an e-mail (ksc AT zooglobble DOT com). Suggestions for this first round are due by Tuesday, May 31.
And stay tuned for further details (voting on your favorite title, hearing the final results). Should be a blast.
Freed from his devotion to the alphabet (see: A-H, 
It's 
