Interview: Joel Rinsema (Phoenix Bach Choir)

I've talked to a few Grammy winners and nominees here at Zooglobble -- Dan Zanes, Ralph Covert, the incomparable Ella Jenkins -- but with the Grammy ceremon(ies) set for Sunday, I hope you'll indulge me another Grammy interview. No, it's not kids music, but it's also not every day that a friend gets nominated for 4.4 Grammy Awards (yes, 4.4 -- see below).

Joel Rinsema is the Executive Director and Assistant Conductor for the Phoenix Bach Choir. (Here he is rehearsing the Phoenix Bach Choir.) Their recording with the Kansas City Chorale of Grechaninov’s Passion Week, led by Artistic Director Charles Bruffy, was nominated for four 2007 Grammy Awards, including Classical Album of the Year.

Joel is also the music director at our church and is always up for talking about cooking good food. He was kind enough to talk about what it was like hearing about the nominations, their music, and where to get designer fashions on the cheap.

To some extent, there are some parallels here between Joel's comments on the impact a win for the Choir and Chorale would have on the classical music category and what wins for independent artists in the children's music categories mean. So go ahead and read -- you'll enjoy it...

Photo credits: Tim Trumble

Zooglobble: Where literally were you when you heard about the Grammy nominations? Was there lots of jumping and screaming involved? Or did you just go back to getting the kids ready for school?
Joel Rinsema: The kids were off to school, and I believe that the televised nominations began at 9 AM Arizona time (8 AM Pacific), so instead of making my way to the office, I booted up my laptop and worked while the nominations were going on. Charles Bruffy lives in Kansas City and we do a lot of our work via AOL Instant Messenger. He wasn’t on, but Donald Loncasty, the Executive Director of the Kansas City Chorale was, and we immediately began to IM back and forth while watching. Of course, they announced all of the “major” nominations to the press corps, but when they got to the end (without announcing any of the classical ones!) and announced that a full list of the nominees was available “at the back of the room” we were both ready to throw things at our TVs.

Instead, I began to frantically type in www.grammy.com. So did, it seemed, thousands of others were doing the same thing, as the website was frozen. I kept on hitting refresh…and there it was…the list of the 50th Grammy Award Nominees. I remember quickly scrolling down the list, and clicking on the word Classical. The first field that appeared was Category 98: “Best Classical Album of the Year.” Alphabetically, ours is listed second, right after the Cherubini Mass with Ricardo Muti conducting. Shaking wildly…so much so, that I knew that I couldn’t type, I picked up the phone to call Kansas City. Don answered the phone and I just remember screaming craziness into his ear. (Something like “Oh My God! Best $(*^&^^% Classical Album of the Year!)

I went back to the computer as Don was still trying to access the site. I just knew that if we were nominated for best Classical, that there were other nominations. Sure enough, we were given nods for four additional Grammys including Best Choral Performance , Best Engineered Album -Classical, and Best Surround Sound Album. Also, our producer Blanton Alspaugh from Soundmirror in Boston was nominated as Best Classical Producer. Two of the five discs he submitted for consideration (Passion Week and Eternal Rest) are ours. [Ed: Hence, the additional 0.4 nominations.]

Did you have any idea that you'd be nominated for four awards? Any rumors?
We heard that Passion Week had made a good impression on the voters. We had no idea though, that we would be up for Best Classical. That was SO far removed from our thinking.

What are the big "firsts" associated with the nominations? (Besides "first Grammy nominations for Joel Rinsema")

I have tried to research some of of this, but it was not easy. For sure it is the first Grammy nod for either of the Choirs and for Charles. I know that there have been some other individuals and chamber-sized groups in both our communities that have received nominations. I doubt that any of them received 4 in one year, however. There are much bigger implications if we were able to actually walk away with a Grammy, especially Best Classical Album or Best Choral Performance. In 50 years of the Grammys, an unaccompanied (a cappella) choral album has never won the Best Classical Album category. What is even more surprising than this: an unaccompanied choral album has never won the Best Choral Performance Category! Chanticleer has won a few, but the Category they have won is “Best Small Ensemble Performance (they have less than 24 singers…in fact, only 12). If we walked away with either of these, it would be huge for the choral field. We don’t need no durned instruments!

Tell me a little bit about the album and the choir(s).
Both choirs are professional choirs. There are not that many of us in the U.S….maybe a dozen or so similar choirs. Because there are so few, the general public (who have never been to our concerts) really don’t know what they are missing.

Let me explain it like this: most people know what a professional symphony orchestra is. It is an orchestra comprised of players who had dedicated their lives to their art. Most have advanced degrees in their field, and have highly developed skills. Because of this, professional orchestras are able to play a wide range of repertoire; both the classical standards and also pieces that are so advanced, virtuosic and, frankly, difficult, that it takes a professional player to perform. This is similar to the professional choir. There is only one full-time professional choral ensemble in the US (the all-male Chanticleer) however, so most of our singers piece together several part-time jobs in music in order to make ends meet. Some are school teachers/professors, music directors at churches and synagogues, private vocal instructors etc.

We have been joining the two choirs together now for about 7 years. When Charles took the job in ’98, there were some in Kansas City that were worried that he was going to leave them. They were so used to being Charles’ golden child, that they did not want his affection to be split between the two children. We brought the two Choirs together within his first two seasons. I remember that there was something quite magical about it. Not only were we able to perform repertoire that required more voices, but there was some incredible music-making that happened. Kansas City had done a lot of recording back in the mid-90’s, and was the first North American choir carried on the U.K. based Nimbus Label. The Phoenix Bach Choir had released a holiday album in 1996, but it was a one-off, and the choir didn’t have recording as part of its long range plan. I also came to be the administrative head in 1998, so Charles and I sort of instigated the whole recording thing in Phoenix.

We recorded a disc of 20th and 21st century settings of Shakespeare texts back in ’03. In all honesty, that disc came off better than it should have. It was our first time recording since ’95, it was our first recording with Charles, and it was the first recording with Soundmirror’s producer Blanton Alspaugh and engineer John Newton (who we hired after some fairly extensive research). The album came together so nicely, that Soundmirror shopped it to Chandos, which is the world’s largest independent classical record label, based in Colchester in the U.K. Chandos took it on, and the disc received instant success –especially in the U.K. where it spent some time as a top seller on Amazon.co.uk and was ClassicFM’s CD of the week when it released.

We caught the recording bug after this immediate success. Grechaninov’s Passion Week was a piece that two of the choir members (one in Kansas City and one in Phoenix) had been encouraging Charles to program for some time. We decided that not only would we perform it, but we would record it. We did just that in ’05 in Kansas City. We shopped it to Chandos first, but they really weren’t interested in it, as they had the only other recording of it out there…by a Russian Choir. We sat on it for a while, but in the meantime, recorded Eternal Rest. When that project was done, we approached Chandos with both of the discs and convinced them to release them both. They released Eternal Rest in the fall of ’06 and the Grechaninov in the Spring of ’07. I think that they feel good about their decision.

Do you have a particular track from the CD on your Myspace page for listeners -- what should they know about it?
We have included my two favorite tracks No. 1 "Behold, the Bridegroom" and No. 6 "Now the powers of heaven" at www.myspace.com/phoenixbachchoir. They both are great representatives of the whole work. There is a sentimentality and spirituality about the piece that I have never experienced in any other work I have been a part of. One does not need to be Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu etc. to get something from this music. It is knee-weakening listening. I don’t think there is a person on the planet that could honestly listen to the work and not be somehow changed by it. If you are a Christian and follow along with the texts, it is profoundly moving, perfect for the season of Lent.

How many of you are going to LA for the ceremony?
There are nearly 80 of us attending the ceremonies in Los Angeles! In addition to current and former choir members, several board members and friends are joining us. It is going to be a great time! We will try to make our presence known in good ways. Some have joked about trashing their hotel rooms if we lose. I don’t think we’ll be doing that.

Where exactly are your seats for the Sunday telecast?
The majority of the seats are in the “Bronze” a.k.a “nosebleed” section. You see, while both choirs are on the discs, the “official” nominees are Charles Bruffy and the Producer/Engineer. They will be sitting up by the other nominees. There are two ceremonies: the pre-telecast begins at 1p.m. pacific time and includes the majority of the awards, including ours. Historically, this ceremony has not been telecast. This year, XM Radio is broadcasting it, and it was just announced that they will do a live webcast at Grammy.com from 1-3:30 Pacific. After the pre-telecast, we all walk across the street from the LA Convention Center to the Staples Center for the telecast that begins at 5 PM Pacific. We don’t know for sure if any of our categories will be a part of the telecast or not…possibly Best Classical and maybe Best Surround Sound, as we are up against the Flaming Lips and the Beatles (among others).

What parties have you been invited to? What swag are you trying to get?
Many of our group have decided that since we can only experience this for the first time, once; that we are going to “do” the Grammys, which includes the post-Grammy celebration – a $200/head event. This also means that many of the attendees are getting a little caught up in the search for designer clothing. Thank goodness for eBay, Nordstrom Rack and Last Chance, and My Sister’s Closet! Yes, some will actually be wearing Dolce & Gabbana, Joseph Abboud, Zegna, Armani, Ferragamo, etc…but none will have paid anywhere near retail price for them!

What one thing do you want to do Grammy weekend?
One thing? – that is hard. Since we are staying at the Biltmore (the Grammy hotel) I am sure that we will bump into a lot of celebrities. I told the choir last night to make sure people know who we are. I want to make a strong statement about what we do and who we are. I want to make high level choral music hip and cool. The Grammy nominations have certainly been a nice invitation to people who normally wouldn’t want to know about what it is we do, or who just plain don’t know about us and our art. This is an opportunity to tell people about the great stuff we are doing for our art form, and have a blast doing it!

I can’t wait for the weekend to get here…and be done…:)

Interview: Dan Zanes

With Dan Zanes visiting Phoenix for the first time on tour with Dan Zanes and Friends less than two weeks from now, I thought it'd be a good time to catch up with the singer. I've done both these things before (seeing him perform in Tucson in April 2007 and interviewing him back in summer 2006), but nothing ever stands still in Dan Zanes' world these days. So I called him up in Puerto Rico and chatted a bit.

Read on for his views on what makes a good Dan Zanes and Friends concert and what he does the first time he visits a city. (Phoenix-area readers, feel free to chime in with suggestions for what he should do here.) Find out about the upcoming album, ¡Nueva York!

And even if you've never even been to Phoenix, you'll want to read the end of the interview where I find out exactly what he was doing in Puerto Rico and what Paul McCartney has to do with it. Trust me, it's worth the time. (And thanks to Dan for making the time.)

Zooglobble: How would you describe a Dan Zanes and Friends concert?
Dan Zanes: As much like a little Grateful Dead show as possible. I try to make the theatre feel like your living room. There's lots of people singing along, lots of people on stage, and as much roaming around, laughing, and crying as possible. And then the whole dissolves into a whole dance party. I want everybody who comes to feel like we're all in this together.

What's your favorite part of the show?
Two things: first, how much people throw themselves into singing. Are they singing their heads off? Second, what's the level of the dancing? Are the aisles filled? How many people are upfront? How much chaos? How intense does it get?

I can't even remember the last show where people didn't dance. In the world of young people, it's so much how they relate... in a physical way.
Will this be your first time playing Phoenix and Flagstaff?
Yes.

What do you do the first time you visit a city?
Try and find good Mexican food. I look for music stores, I look for thrift shops. See if someone we like is playing in town.

Most of the band likes walking and exploring cities. Elena (Moon Park, fiddle and trumpet) has a graduate degree in urban policy.

How do you choose or find local musicians you have joining you?
Usually we start with the presenters, who tend to be tapped into the community. A lot of times I'll go online, research Latino/Mexican cultural centers or African drumming groups.

Often I'll look for groups working with young people. If kids are seeing other kids on stage, that's really meaningful. I think most of the groups we have are working with traditions that require creativity but also understanding of cultural roots. For me, that's very, very emotional to see. Young people will really keep the traditions going. It's an incredible feeling because there's so much inspiration for where the country's going.

You have a new album coming out soon, right?
Yes, ¡ Nueva York!, in April. We're celebrating the music all around us in New York City from the Spanish-speaking south. It's the sound of the band collaborating with Latino musicians in New York City, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina.

On a personal level, it's my pro-immigration record. What I haven't heard is much acknowledgment of how much the culture of the United States is revitalized by this culture. When I learned Spanish couple years ago... I spent time on the border last year with humanitarian groups, and I saw the whole zone on both sides of the border. I saw more than I imagined and it was heartbreaking. I want to be building bridges instead of the mean tone of conversation. [The album] is the sound of people getting together sharing stories and celebrating each's others culture. Everybody's welcome here -- let's get the party started.

I've heard a couple of the tracks, it seems like maybe it'll be geared for a little older audience. Will this be like Catch That Train or will it be a little more like Sea Music or Parades and Panoramas?
It really is the next family record. For a lot of people it might be hard to hear it that way. But for other people, it might be this fantastic thing that there's this family CD that's all in Spanish. There's not as much out there in terms of family music in Spanish. I think a lot of our existing fans will get on board. It'll be a fun year. We had an amazing time collaborating in New York -- the whhole thing has made me feel happy.

How much of the new album will you be playing at the show?
1 or 2 songs. Definitely at least one.

So what are you doing in Puerto Rico, anyway?
We're working on a new CD, actually. We got this crazy call from Paul McCartney's publishing company. He's got this company, MPL Music Publishing. They've got a fantastic collection -- Frank Loesser, Harold Arlen -- and they decided they wanted to actively work the catalog. The first call they made was to us to see if they wanted to make a family record of Broadway tunes. I said, "Are you sure you want us?" But then I explained what I thought we could do with them.

We love Sir Paul and they're a great group of people. It was going to be an interesting challenge to take these songs and make them sound like wild folk music. And since they're writing the check, we thought maybe we could make a wild adventure. This is my best band yet and I wanted to do something a little different, more of a musical collaboration with the group, where we went somewhere, worked hard for a week. So we're here in Puerto Rico. It's been great -- we've recorded about 18 songs. We'll go back to New York and finish it up.

I don't think I own a single soundtrack except for Fiddler on the Roof. It never connected to me. But these songs are incredible. We take 'em apart and work 'em up...

Thanks to Dan for the time... Phoenix-area readers: C'mon -- now you know what Dan and the band does on tour -- where should they visit in Phoenix?.

Interview: Kevin Salem (Little Monster Records)

One of my favorite songs from the 1990s was the soaring alterna-rocker "Lighthouse Keeper," by a musician by the name of Kevin Salem. Fast-forward a decade, and in this brave new world of kids and family music, I was surprised and, well, pleased to hear that Salem had started up Little Monster Records, a label just for kids' music. Salem, who spends much of his time now producing others' records rather than recording his own, along with his wife Kate Hyams, who spent many years as a label executive, have put together an exciting roster of artists who show every sign of releasing music that is definitely not the typical kids' music fare.

Kevin Salem recently took the time to answer a few questions. Read on for how views on kids in the recording studio have changed over the year, his vision for the label, how his least favorite baseball team inspired his label's latest record, and future projects...

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Kevin Salem: There were a few different sources for me growing up. My parents were Arabic and played a lot of Arabic music and I grew up in a small coal and steel town where there was a lot of rootsy music, so that stuff was always in the air. My dad was a jazz singer and trumpeter, so the first songs I sang were things like ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ and ‘Sunny Side of the Street.’ I lived with two sisters and my cousins who are quite a bit older than me and turned me on to a lot of the things I have loved all my life -- the Beatles and Stones, Dylan, Motown, Neil Young... all things countercultural. I remember watching the Beatles at shea stadium on TV and wondering what was wrong with all the teenage girls in my family. When I was 5, some teenagers from my family’s church had a cover band called ‘Grapes of Wrath.’ I saw them play 'Little Bit of Soul’ at a church picnic and decided on the spot that I was gonna be a rock and roll guitarist. It was the best decision I ever made.

What instruments did you play growing up? Did family or friends play instruments?
I ate, breathed and slept guitar, had no interest in playing any other instruments. My uncle lived with us for many years and was an accomplished pianist and composer, my dad, as I said was a singer, and my sister Deb played guitar and sang. When I was six, me and some of my friends ‘played’ at birthday parties (actually, we would lip sync to ‘Hanky Panky.’) Having said all that, if you could hear my mom sing, you would understand why it took such a wealth of musical influence to overcome her genetic input. It is truly a voice to...er... marvel at. Sorry, mom.

When you were recording your own records did kids ever show up in the recording studio? Has that changed now in the years since you've moved more into the production side?
The thing is... the records I made through my twenties and thirties were made behind a certain barrier that just precluded kids being around. As I’ve grown older and been humbled more, and since the birth of my daughter, I am perfectly comfortable with kids in the studio. My daughter has been lucky enough to sit in Emmylou Harris’ lap while we recorded, and Rachael Yamagata is basically her godmother. I have had some clients get a little tense when kids are around in the studio, which is ironic because the best performances come when a person is as ego-less as a child. As a producer, one thing I have always found myself telling singers is to sing the way they did when they were a child.

When did you come up with the idea for Little Monster Records? Was there a specific inspiration?
My wife, Kate, has been in the music business all her life. When we had Emily five years ago, we saw an opportunity to do what we loved to do and give something to Em at the same time. There were other things... like I played South by Southwest with my band in ‘02, before I had a kid, and a sax player called Ralph Carney ended up playing with me. I went to see his band and thought ‘wow... this guy should be making music for kids.’ Same with Medeski Martin & Wood. Still, we may never have done this had Andy Gershon, who was running V2, not asked Kate and I if we could bring a children’s imprint into the label.

What is your vision for the label?
When Kate was pregnant, I began to buy movies that I knew I would want my daughter to see... The Wizard of Oz, It’s a Wonderful Life, Bambi... the usual stuff. It has been from the start, a pure pure joy discovering these movies, and so many others, like The Incredibles and Star Wars, together. More than anything, I would like to try and give that kind of experience to families through music.

What draws you to particular artists (or album concepts) for the label?
Quality, imagination, the tendency or artists to leave the center and find the outside edges of their art, the ability to allow children to feel ownership of the music and parents to feel included, a demonstration that music has a history that is living and growing as each generation plays with their influences... and, in every case, our artists are special parents... every one of them.

What's been the most rewarding aspect of starting a label focused on music for family and kids? What's been the hardest aspect?
I think it would be hard for anyone who has a pulse to argue that ‘grown-up’ music and the business of selling it are not, generally, in a state of stagnation and confusion. But when we ask artists to make kids records, they seem to find inspiration easily. Perhaps it is knowing who the audience will be, perhaps it is the encouragement to drop pretensions... it just brings out the best in the incredibly gifted people we’ve been lucky enough to bring into our roster. When we did the Beatles and soul compilations, we cut 26 songs in 2 days and finished early. It was so exhilarating to have positivity and generosity be these essential parts of the formula in a process that usually involves a few weeks of getting your head caught up your own bum and then a few more trying to pull it back out. Commercially, I find it EXTREMELY rewarding to know that we don’t have to operate like a ‘record company,’ and no one will ever sell their soul to do this on my watch. And of course, on the down side, once in a while, we collide with the old paradigm of doing music business. No biggie, just a temporary minor little drag here and there.

(Photo credit: Phillip Gerome Stiles)
Who came up with the idea to do a Medeski, Martin & Wood kids' disk (Let's Go Everywhere)?
I am a hardcore Yankees fan, so I hate to give any credit to the Boston Red Sox for anything. But a few years ago, when they won the World Series for the first time in 8 billion years, they threw a party on Lansdowne Street, and MMW were told their Boston show that evening was cancelled. They ended up playing a little impromptu acoustic show here in Woodstock, where some of them live and our kids go to school together. I’ve got Emily on my lap and we are watching one of the best bands in the universe playing purely for the love of it, very loose and relaxed, and, all of a sudden, Billy Martin starts picking up these chirping bird toys and playing outrageous grooves. I looked at Kate and said ‘, they’re playing children’s music.’ We were at a party and ran into them and asked if they wanted to do, you know, like, 'MMW go to the farm' or something. They came up with the idea of a musical travelogue for children. Such a cool idea.

Did the finished product of Let's Go Everywhere sound like you thought it might when the concept was first discussed? What do you like most about the album (be it a particular song or something more general)?
To be honest, we had no expectations, and, to be brutally honest, the experiment could have failed for all we knew. I almost passed out when I heard the whole record. It blew me away. I love the width of the record stylistically, and I love that it is real jazz. Tim ingham’s vocals absolutely slay me. I love the way the album speaks to children without ever trying to condescend. The more I listen, the more I am astonished that they pulled it off and the levels on which it works that I could never have dreamed. I think there is an old saying, that ‘no one ever tried to make a great record.’ If you understand what that means, you can hear that kind of whimsical brilliance from beginning to end of LGE. In a lot of ways, I wish it weren’t on my label, because I want your readers to believe this without thinking it is my pride or inner label guy speaking.

What's next for Little Monster?
A beautiful run of releasing brilliant records to lavish critical acclaim, followed by bankruptcy and, finally, vindication in the form of a box set in 2025, provided Rhino are still in business? Actually, next year we have MMW, All Together Now, Soulville, Robbert Bobbert, and Ralph and Ralph. Rachael Yamagata and I are starting to work on a record of children’s music that will come out in ‘09. There are a few other bands brewing, and we have started a book imprint that will hopefully launch in the fall. I’ve been messing with ideas for a kids music podcast and... well, there is just so much.

Interview: Father Goose (aka Rankin' Don aka Wayne Rhoden)

Ask anyone who attends a Dan Zanes concert and they'll tell you that the most energetic point in the show is the entrance of longtime Zanes collaborator Father Goose. When he strides onstage, Father Goose (known to others as Rankin' Don or even Wayne Rhoden) works to bring the whole crowd to their feet.

Now, with the recent release of his first album for Zanes' Festival Five Records, It's A Bam Bam Diddly!, one of 2007's best kids and family music albums as judged by this year's Fids & Kamily Poll Father Goose has started to carve out a name as a family music ringleader in his own right.

Father Goose recently answered a few questions about his musical upbringing and approach on his latest CD. Read on for what music he listened to growing up ("The Gambler?"), how he put together his latest album, and what exactly he does while waiting to go on stage at a Dan Zanes show.

Oh, and read on for a free download from the latest CD, courtesy of Festival Five Records. (It's for a limited time, so grab it while you can.)

Thanks to Father Goose for taking the time to answer the questions...

Photo courtesy Arthur Elgort

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Zooglobble: What music do you remember listening to or singing growing up?
Father Goose: Growing up in Jamaica, which is known as the birthplace of reggae music, you would be surprised of the many other genres of music that are played on the island. I sang along to our superstars Bob Marley, Toots & The Maytals, Lee "Scratch" Perry and out of the USA I listened to Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, James Brown and numerous others, even some from Europe.

Who (artists, parents, etc.) were your biggest musical influences?
My parents were great in that they did not set any limits as to the type of music I would listen to. That in itself was a blessing because without them my musical voyage would not have begun.

When did you decide you wanted to become a performer?

The need to do something music related started at an early age. I began playing instruments at five and by my early teens I was performing for friends and family.

How did you pick what songs you wanted to record for this CD?
The songs on the CD showcased my life’s journey from Jamaica to the United States. The folk tunes, nursery rhymes, r&b sound and reggae were music I loved as a child so when it came to selecting the songs for the CD I went with what I know.

How did you pick the artists who appear with you on the record?
When I started singing and performing in the U.S., Coolie Ranx and Screechy Dan were also performers and we all became good friends. When the time arrived for me to record this CD I knew I wanted to record with friends, Sister Carol because her lyrics are awesome and others that I have admired. I love Sheryl Crow’s music; she and Dan Zanes have collaborated in the past so I was honored when she agreed to sing on “Flying Machine.”

The CD sounds a little bit like a Dan Zanes CD in that the guest artists sometimes have the lead role while you (or Dan) are in the background -- more of a ringmaster than a leader. Was that by design?
I believe this CD differs somewhat from a Dan Zanes CD in that the main objective for the guests on the CD, metaphorically speaking, was that they were the ingredients and I came along as the seasoning that added flavor to the music.

What else did you learn these past few years from working with Dan?
Traveling with Dan these past few years around the globe has shown or highlighted the fact that the world truly wants and needs family music.

I'm just curious -- your appearance at a Dan Zanes concert is usually near the end of the show -- what do you do while waiting to go on stage?
Basically, I meditate and get in the zone prior to going onstage and the only way to achieve this is by separating oneself from the sounds, commotions and sometimes confusions that come with the production of a concert event.

What do you hope listeners (kids or adults) get out of the CD?
For them to take a look into my world and realize that my musical, spiritual and physical journey is never ending, there’s always a party going on… “it’s a bam, bam diddly!”

What's next for you?
Discovering the many other components to “Father Goose”; evaluate several new projects which have come my way that I have to take into consideration, and sooner rather than later put pen to paper on the tunes that are already hammering in my head for the next CD.

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Thanks to Father Goose and Festival Five for offering this limited-time free download to you, Zooglobble readers --the laid-back yet infectious "Chi Chi Buddo" Thanks, y'all!

Father Goose - "Chi Chi Buddo" (Time expired)

Interview: Gwendolyn (of Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang)

With her dress and pigtails, the uni-monikered Gwendolyn has a lot of fans amongst the preschool set in the Los Angeles area. Of course, she's got a bunch of fans amongst those preschoolers' parents, too, as her music manages to be targeted directly at the young'uns while still appealing to the oldsters' ears.

Now, with Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang's first East Coast Tour really getting going this weekend (updated tour dates here), if you're in the neighborhood, you should definitely stop by a show.

And even if you're not in the neighborhood, you should read the interview below with Gwendolyn, who kindly answered questions this week. Read on for her musical influences, how recording her second and most recent kids' CD, Get Up & Dance!, differed from recording the first, and exactly how many hours of yoga a good show for the kids is worth.

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What are your earliest musical memories?
Family hootenannies in the living room. My dad would play guitar and my mom would join him and sing songs. They had a nice repertoire of Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, The Incredible String Band and the like.

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?
Aside from my siblings, who are both excellent songwriters, I would name Thom Moore, a childhood friend of mine who plays now in The Moore Brothers. They just opened for Joanna Newsom in Europe. He was a great influence growing up, a Robyn Hitcock of sorts. I love songwriters, storytellers and innovative artists like Nick Drake, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan...

I didn't listen to much children's music growing up - but I loved artists that embraced a child-like perspective, like Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, Jethro Tull and early Pink Floyd - Syd Barrett, really wonderful stuff. My dad had a pretty decent record collection that inevitably became his children's.
"Freedom of the Heart" was written for the movie "Chuck & Buck." How did you segue from that into writing songs for kids?
"Freedom of the Heart" was a hit with the cult movie fans. Many of the films' reviews mentioned the song as a big part of the movie's charm. But it didn't occur to me to write songs for children until a friend suggested it. (He had just been laid off from his music industry job and was looking for something to pitch. He thought he could get me a record deal!) So, I wrote a few more songs and recruited my percussionist Brandon Jay to help produce the tracks.

As it turns out, my friend didn't have much luck selling the idea to record companies but Brandon and I passed out the 5-song CD to various preschools around our neighborhood and the kids went nuts. We got such a great response, we decided to write a few more songs, create an album and put it out ourselves. We recruited a few friends of ours to perform the songs live and started playing shows around LA. This was back in 2003. Since then we've released two more albums and a concert DVD. We've even produced a few music videos, one of which aired on Noggin.

Oh yeah, and I married Brandon!

Did you find it easier or harder than writing music for adults?
All songs come through a special channel. It seems effortless to write when you're dialed in... sometimes the muse is with you, other times - it sleeps.

How was recording Get Up & Dance! different from recording the debut?
When Brandon and I produced the debut album, we played many of the instruments ourselves - we didn't have a band yet. In fact, at the time, we didn't even know any kids!

"Get Up Dance!" reflects a lot of what we've learned performing music for families throughout the last few years. The songs are a bit more interactive and the band members played on the recording this time.

Do you ever segregate your "adult-music-writing" time from your "kids-music-writing" time, or do you just write music and at some point figure out which audience you're writing for?
I guess it depends on my frame of mind. I don't ever say, "OK now it's time for children's music..." or "Now I'm going to sit down and write an obtuse love ballad mourning the non-planet Pluto."

Songs come when they want to. I don't decide what's what… It’s usually pretty obvious!

The songs I write for kids come from a very specific place in my imagination. I know it's my inner-child expressing herself and wanting to help create something special.

[Ed. note: You know, I need to stop asking this question, because the answer is inevitably, "what, are you crazy? When you write, you write."]

Your music pulls off a tricky balancing act -- being earnest for the kids without turning off the adult listener. Is that something you have to work at refining on paper, in the studio, on stage, or has that been easy for you?
Relating to children is a natural talent I've been happy to discover I have. It's fun for me! I have blast doing it and as long as that remains true, I'll continue creating opportunities to relate to children. The fact that the parents love it too, is an added bonus! Perhaps they are connecting to that part of themselves that enjoys being a kid.

What's your favorite part about performing for kids and families?
Happy upbeat rock 'n' roll does a good job of putting you right with the world. The unabashed energy exchanged between the band and an audience of 3-year-olds - there's really no beating it! And the hugs I get after each show are so sweet. Normally, I would have to do 5 hours of yoga to feel this good!

What's the hardest part about performing for kids and families?
Lugging gear at 7am for an early morning show.

How -- if at all -- has writing and performing for families affected your non-kids' work?
When the Good Time Gang performs out of state, I always try and play a grown-up show, too. I'll be playing a couple shows on this trip - Wednesday (10/24) at Banjo Jim's in New York, Thursday (10/25) at The Underground in Philly, and Thursday (11/1) at Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn.

In my attempts to be creative everyday and self-produce material for children I've learned so much about what it means to be a working artist. It's opened so many doors and introduced us to a whole new audience. Having accomplished what we have over the years, I’ve grown confident that I can lend my experience to others by way of producing and composing music for film/TV.

Brandon and I are currently composers for Showtime's comedy "Weeds" (parents beware: a very grown-up show) -- this opportunity actually came to us through playing in the Good Time Gang. The creator/producer Jenji Kohan and her husband have three young kids and are big fans of the band. When they were looking for composers for the show, our named came up and through our audition we landed the job.

We just finished scoring our first feature film starring Jay Mohr and other projects are on the horizon - so, it's an exciting time for us as grown-ups... all thanks to playing music for kids!

Besides the East Coast tour, what's next for you and the Good Time Gang?
We're returning home Dec 1st to play a Holiday show for the kids in LA and will begin recording our fourth album next year. We're also developing a TV show we hope will be a lot of fun for the kids.