Review: Chickens - Buck Howdy with BB

Buck Howdy is the most-polished-sounding of the small but growing kids' country music subgenre. Howdy has a twangy but appealingly melodic voice and his tracks bear the sound of stellar production you'd hear on the best of Nashville's releases.

Buck Howdy's latest album, Chickens, showcases these strengths and adds another one -- BB, Howdy's co-singer at many live shows, just about gets co-billing. BB's sweet voice, which appears on almost every track, blends quite nicely with Howdy's. The old nugget "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" is a great example of his approach, melding western swing with a bit of big band. Nice vocals from Howdy and his co-singer BB, a couple horns, and a sweet fiddle solo, all making for a fun and nifty three minutes. "You Are My Sunshine" doesn't have the horns, but the rendition has pep and swing.

There really aren't any bad tracks here -- either the Buck Howdy originals (7 of which are co-written with BB) or the 6 covers. I should note that Howdy is sort of a country-fied version of Dan Zanes, sometimes not so interested in making music for kids as much as making family-friendly music (or even just music that interests him). While the album is stronger as a whole than its predecessor, Giddyup!, there's nothing as immediately appealing for the kids as "Baked Beans" off that album. "Are You Havin' Any Fun?" is a great little chestnut (once recorded by Tony Bennett and Count Basie and ably covered here), but its theme of avoiding overwork will probably (hopefully) be over the heads of your kindergartner. As a result, if you're looking for an album that is laser-focused on kids' interests, this won't be your best bet.

Kids ages from 4 through 8 will most enjoy the specifically kid-focused songs here (though as I've noted, it's not kid-focused all the time). You can hear samples of the 41-minute album at Howdy's music page or the album's CDBaby page.

While Chickens might not be an album that speaks directly to kids at all times, it never underestimates them -- the production is top-notch and whoever isn't the main lyrical target of each song (be it the parents or the kids) will find enough other things going on musically that they'll enjoy the track. It's a fun little album -- recommended.

Why Should Rockists-In-Training Have All The Fun?

I'm typically either way ahead or way behind of the curve 'round here. In this particular case, I'm behind the curve as I'm mentioning the Stagecoach Festival, the country festival put on by the Coachella folks the week after Coachella. The Festival which, uh, happened last weekend.

But I wanted to mention it because it showed that country music is beginning to realize that maybe there's a market opportunity for them, too. Stagecoach had its own kids' music stage which featured, among others, Buck Howdy, Farmer Jason, The Hollow Trees, and The Bummkinn Band. (My personal favorite amongst these? The Hollow Trees, who do hootenannies up right.)

I heard that Sharon, Lois & Bram were gonna reunite for the festival but got booed offstage by Rage Against the Machine fans who were still stuck in the parking lot leaving the Coachella show.

Did I just make a Sharon, Lois & Bram joke? Goodness, I have issues.

There are a whole bunch of YouTube videos from the festival, but they mostly involve guys like George Strait and Kenny Chesney and other men with large hats worn unironically. So I'll just leave you with this video of Farmer Jason (Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers fame, for those of you new to this whole kids-music thing). He's got a hat, too, but he's playing in some guy's backyard.

The Wiggles, this genre ain't.

I'm Not Talking To You, Jamarama Live

Go ahead, Jamarama Live. Tour the East Coast. See if I care. Tour with Buck Howdy, Ralph's World, Milkshake. (Oh, and LazyTown and a whole of bunch weird characters that I'm sure I would recognize if we had cable.) Ignore us fine folks in Phoenix. Fifth Largest City in America. Hmph.

Justin Roberts and Newfangled Technology

Justin Roberts might not be very adept at performing magic or telling jokes, but he is one heckuva songwriter. Thanks to the Land of Nod, you can hear the proof.

In a 15-minute (or so) podcast, Roberts inaugurates the "Land of Nod Nodcast Podcast" by crafting one catchy theme ditty, playing some of his stuff from Meltdown!, Not Naptime, and Great Big Sun, and displaying a very self-deprecating attitude. He even has a demo version of "Our Imaginary Rhino" for our amusement. (And, hey, if kids' music albums eventually get the expanded/remastered treatment now given to every album more than 10 years old, why shouldn't the stellar Meltdown! be at the top of the list in 2016?)

Not content with audio-only content? Devon at Head, Shoulders, Knees... found YouTube footage of Justin Roberts' "Airplane of Food" video.

Buck Howdy more your style? Fran at the About Kids' Music site has got you covered.

And if you're still just happy reading... The Lovely Mrs. Davis has a guest post from Charity Kahn (from Charity and the JAMBand).

Go forth, enjoy, then sit back and enjoy the cool pleasures of dancing or singing with your kids on a summer day (or night).

New Noggin Videos for Old Songs

News from the Justin Roberts newsletter that Noggin will begin airing videos for "Willy Was A Whale" and "If You Got 1" next week. Fran also notes that Buck Howdy will have videos airing on Noggin soon as well.

So soon you can watch these videos (which appear to be new, or at least they're not on their respective websites) where they were meant to be seen. On TV, not on a computer. When you were watching A-ha's "Take On Me" video on MTV 20 years ago, did you ever think you'd be watching videos. With kids. Of yours. On a cable channel specifically for those kids. And that that channel would air more videos than MTV?