Itty-Bitty Review: Banjos For Babes, Vol. 1 - Josh Turknett

First, let's get this out of the way -- Banjos For Babes is a lot better than its cover might lead you to think. While I admit that the 4-year-old daughter of Atlanta neurologist/banjo player Josh Turknett has more drawing skills than I, a casual viewer might be forgiven if they opened the disk with some trepidation.

But once they get the disk into the CD player, they'll be fine, because this is a sweet and simple little collection of, well, songs for the youngest banjo fans. Nothing revolutionary here, just solid banjo playing, nice arrangements, and even an unfamiliar nugget or two. The leadoff track "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" adds a few other body parts into the mix, while "Old Dan Tucker" takes a slightly more leisurely approach to the song than is commonly heard. And I really liked "Coke Oven March," a song whose origin Turknett traces back to a music box. If Turknett doesn't quite have Pete Seeger's golden voice -- and, really, who does? -- it's pretty good, and he does a good job making what is essentially a one-man affair seem much fuller.

The song selections on the 42-minute album are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6, though the arrangements will have a broader appeal. You can listen to samples from the songs here or at the album's CDBaby page. Banjos For Babes is a well-crafted collection of folk takes on kids' classics, one worth checking out. Recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Little Boots - Brendan Taaffe

I sometimes get asked for baby shower gift suggestions from folks who don't have kids themselves but who know my gig. Because it'll be a little while before the kids are ready for the more raucous and diverse music targeted at the preschool crowd, I limit my suggestions to a handful of lullaby albums. I think I'm going to add Little Boots from Vermont's Brendan Taaffe to the list.

Conceived as a gift of sorts to Taaffe's nephew, it's a quiet collection of traditional folk songs, Irish tunes, and originals that blend instrumentation both traditional (guitar) and not so from a North American sense (mbira, used to particularly good effect on the leadoff track, Pete Seeger's "Well May the World Go"). Seeger is a big influence here -- he endorses Taaffe's effort and gets not only the leadoff track but the album closer, too. It's a little reminiscent of Dean Jones' Napper Delight disk in its instrumentation and that it's not afraid to step lively occasionally. If A Prairie Home Companion did a kids show, this would be the music they'd play throughout.

As a lullaby album (for the most part), it's clearly targeted at kids ages 0 through 3, but even more so at their parents, who could use a calming moment or two. You can hear (and download) four of the album's tracks here and sample the rest of the album here. (One other note in favor of its suitability for gifting -- the album's cover art was done by Dan Zanes' partner in artistic crime Donald Saaf.) Little Boots is a sweet little disk your family may find itself listening long after you've packed up the crib. Recommended.

Review: C'mon - Renee and Jeremy

The first time I heard Renee and Jeremy's It's A Big World more than 2 1/2 years ago, I instantly recognized how unique its sound was (read the review). Even if I thought it was just shy of being a timeless classic, it was definitely (and still is) a very important album in the resurgent genre, a completely modern lullaby album that was so intimate it sounded like it was recorded in the nursery. (Which it was, incidentally.)

But if lullaby albums are about the parents, the follow-up albums are about the kids, which brings us to C'mon, the recently-released second album from the duo of Renee Stahl and Jeremy Toback. Whereas the first album was designed to put everyone at ease, C'mon is designed for, well, if not dancing, then at least bobbing of heads. At times, the album is the grooviest thing you're going to hear until Sly and the Family Stone release their family music album, but it also retains just enough of the raw intimacy that gave It's a Big World such a distinctive sound (for example, Toback's "here we go" at the very start of the leadoff track, "Share"). But if you're looking for another hushed rendition of "Three Little Birds," you'll be surprised by the '80s pop and synthesized strings of songs like "Watch Where You're Going."

The songs are anchored by Stahl's beautiful voice, but Stahl and Toback duet more on this album than on its predecessor, usually to great effect ("Wishing Well" not only features Stahl and Toback duetting, but also multiple layers of Stahl's vocals). Fans of the first album might prefer the lullaby "Is It Really Any Wonder?." But for me the album's standout track is ELO-meets-the-playground "Mama Papa Love," which neatly turns the line "Mama loves you so much, baby / What you gonna do with that love? / Papa loves you so much, baby / What you gonna do with that love?" into "Baby loves you so much, mama, what you gonna do with that love?" It speaks straight to both parent and child and soars.

I'm a bigger fan of the music than the lyrics, which are generally simple, big on repeated choruses, and directed at kids with fairly obvious topics -- sharing ("Share") or delayed gratification ("Right Now"). The album is slightly more than the sum of its parts, as over its 33-minute run it sets up its groovy mood and sticks to it. The songs here are topically most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6. You can get the physical copy exclusively (for the moment) at Barnes and Noble or digitally here.

Families who are fans of the first album should have no problem getting into C'mon after a listen or two. Neither should listeners new to the duo. It's a sweet treat of a disk. Definitely recommended.

Disclaimer:Renee & Jeremy provided me with a copy of the album for possible review.

Review: Two Feet Tall - Dan Bern

Dan Bern might not be the first person you'd think to release a kids music album -- a discography filled with socially and politically charged songs (sample: "Bush Must Be Defeated") isn't necessarily the typical precursor to singing songs about binkies. But Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Ella Jenkins didn't exactly hide behind their political convictions, so why shouldn't politically-minded contemporary folk musicians be any less free to sing for the preschool set?

Having said that, if you're expecting you're expecting the just-released Two Feet Tall to be your toddler's introduction to progressive politics, you'll be disappointed. Instead, the album features amusing couplets like this in "Hen Party" -- "They'll be playing ball games / They'll be eating applesauce / One thing we know for sure is / They won't be playing an egg toss." The closest Bern really gets to being political is "Labor Day," and that's really just a celebration of walking outside with an infant.

Instead, Bern's more interested in turning a simple story of putting on pants ("Trousers") into a digression on how pants became trousers (Jack Trousers, 1751, apparently -- strange how Wikipedia is oddly silent on that issue). Or a manic telling via lyrical couplets of the people behind Listerine or Kleenex or Schwinn bicycles ("Mister Lister"). Or telling a child she's too young to do things she wants to do with lyrics that will thankfully go over the 18-month-old's head ("If you came to me and said / I want to hold a shiny red purse and / Hang on the corner of Hollywood and Vine / I'd say / You're too, too, too young / You're too young for that / Why don't you sit on my lap / And we'll drink cookies and milk...").

And occasionally Bern comes up with classic kid-folk songs, like "Shoes" ("I like that you don't have a mortgage / I like that you don't have a mortgage / That's OK when you're old and gray / But today you can run and play / I like that you don't have a mortgage...") "Only a Mouse" lists all the things only a mouse knows -- the migratory patterns of cats, certain qualities of cheese, and mixing a sloe gin fizz, apparently, among other things. There are plenty of other tracks here, such as "Donkey to Brunch," "Secrets," and "Monkey and the Kangaroo" that could easily have been recorded on a Folkways album of fifty years ago. Bern's clearly in love with his kid, and that tenderness comes through loud and clear. Well, at least clear.

Clocking in at 38 songs and about 70 minutes in length, the album could have been trimmed by at least a third, not because any of the songs are bad (OK, I'd be happy never to hear again the vibrating chair in "It Vibrates") but because there's relatively little variation in the arrangements, with whistling or bells occasionally offsetting Bern's sightly nasally voice and guitar (or ukulele) playing. (There's a reason I've been focusing on Bern's wordplay here.) The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 0 through 4. You can purchase the album at Bern's store or hear samples through iTunes.

As if he were the child of Kimya Dawson, Barry Louis Polisar, and Woody Guthrie, Dan Bern's put together a collection of gentle and witty lo-fi songs that wear their hearts on their sleeves and occasionally achieve transcendance. Two Feet Tall isn't for everyone, but if you know a relatively new parent (or are one yourself) and are looking for an album celebrating infant- and toddlerhood with some roughness around the edges, you might just adore this album. For those folks, it's recommended.

Disclosure: I purchased this album. Is that a disclosure?

Itty-Bitty Review: Music is... Awesome! (Yo Gabba Gabba!) - Various Artists

I am perhaps not the best person to judge a Yo Gabba Gabba compilation, as I've never seen a complete episode aside from the premiere I received on a screener DVD a few years back. (That's what a lack of cable will do.) A soundtrack album -- that's pitched at the true believers, not at the casual fans, right? So, if anything, I started listening expecting not to like it so much.

Wrong. Even if you've never watched an episode and don't know your Brobee from your Muno, you and your preschoolers could definitely enjoy their new compilation Music is... Awesome!. For the most part, the disk alternates songs from the series with those from a list of artists with serious street cred; often they're set up as pairs. So a basic YGG song like "I Like to Dance" is followed up by Beastie Boys collaborator Money Mark doing a cool "Robo Dancing," an angular dance tune with lots of bleeps and bloops. "Don't Be Afraid" is followed by I'm From Barcelona's swirly pop on "Just Because It's Different Doesn't Mean Its Scary." Generally, the best songs are from the guest artists -- the Roots' incredible "Lovely, Love My Family" or Chromeo's funky ode to handwashing "Nice 'N' Clean" or the sunny "Hey, Won't Somebody Come and Play" from The Little Ones (a song which is destined to find its way onto a lot of hipster mix CDs yet is somehow totally appropriate for the 3-year-old in your life). But there are a few decent songs from the YGG folks, even if you're not a fan of the show (the cute "Party in my Tummy," or the shiny pop of "You Can't Always Get What You Want," credited to the Yo Dazzlers, but really just another YGG tune).

You can find the 37-minute CD at the usual places, including Amazon and iTunes. Besides your hipster 30-year-old friend with the chunky eyeglass frames, the album's most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 5.

I'd love to say that Music is... Awesome! is awesome. Unfortunately I can't pull the trigger on that obvious pull quote as some of the YGG tunes are just too dry to enjoy apart from the visuals. But a lot of the music is indeed awesome, which makes it the kids music compilation of the year. Definitely recommended.