Itty-Bitty Review: "Luckiest Adventure" - Lucky Diaz

You can make a big impression in a small amount of time. With his debut family EP Luckiest Adventure, Lucky Diaz proves you can do it in about fifteen minutes. The singer-songwriter from LA has put together five fabulous songs that will probably stay lodged in your iTunes playlist, car CD player, and brain for a long time after you first hear it. "Blue Bear" is a shuffling rockabilly tune that must spontaneously generate handclapping solos in concert. It's followed by "Explorer," which has a bit of a laid-back Jack Johnson feel mixed with some nifty fret work from Diaz. "Fire Fighter Girl" apes the girl-group sound of fifty years ago, "Let Me Be Yours" sounds like a folk-rock love song for adults but works in a knock-knock joke (sort of), and the album concludes with an rootsy power-pop take on "This Old Man" -- complete with an appearance by the man himself. Diaz has a versatile voice that can do the big choruses and falsettos equally well, and it's ably backed up by the trio (Diaz and a couple others).

The songs are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 6. You can download the album on iTunes or Amazon, and you can stream 3 of the songs at Diaz's website. On Luckiest Adventure, Diaz has put more really good songs on a 5-song EP than a lot of artists fit in on an entire full-length. Full-length pronto, please. Definitely recommended.