How I Got Here - Tito Uquillas (Buddy Holly's 20 Golden Greats)

Today's entry in "How I Got Here," featuring kindie musicians talking about albums influencing their musical decisions, is from Tito Uquillas, guitarist and chief songwriter for the Bay Area(-ish) power-pop band The Hipwaders.  The band's just released a sweet little 2-song EP featuring a couple covers, including one of Frances England's "The Books I Like to Read" (here's an Amazon link).  Here's Tito's tribute to a rushed-out greatest hits collection that's inspired him for more than 30 years.

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When I was asked if I’d a write a little something about an album that influenced me as a musician my first thought went to Gary Busey.  Yep, everybody’s favorite crazy uncle was probably the biggest influence on my musical future as he introduced me to the genius of Buddy Holly.

In 1978, I had been playing keyboards in a band for a few months with little progress.  My bandmates and I would just literally pound out three chords in a never ending cacophony of sound.

One afternoon I went with my sister to see The Buddy Holly Story at the local movie theater.  I knew and liked the few Buddy Holly songs I had heard on oldies radio stations but I didn’t own any of his albums.  To say the movie was a revelation is an understatement.  Gary Busey brought (whether accurately or not) a vibrant, exciting Buddy Holly to life.  Before the end of the movie I was determined to chuck the keyboard and learn to play guitar.  Who the heck wants to be trapped behind a keyboard when you can jump around the stage with a guitar!

My younger brother had been taking guitar lessons and I asked him to show me how the little box figures above the chords on sheet music corresponded with the guitar.  I bought a Buddy Holly songbook and the only record of Buddy’s I could find: Buddy Holly’s 20 Golden Greats.

Geez, that album art stunk.  Looking it up on Wikipedia reveals that the album was a rush release to take advantage of the movie.  Despite the bad graphics, it’s the music that inspired me and continues to inspire me to this day.

Buddy Holly assimilated rockabilly, country & western, blues and New Orleans music into his sound.  Just listening to the first three songs on the album reveal the diversity:  from the rockabilly rave up of “That’ll Be the Day,” to “Peggy Sue” (which I still don’t know how to classify), to the ballad, “Words of Love.”

I’ve learned a lot from Buddy Holly.  From production ideas - with credit to producer Norman Petty and under-rated drummer, Jerry Allison, who would use his lap or a cardboard box to lay down percussion - to his singing style and his guitar playing.  Since 1979 to this day I always followed the 3 person line-up of Buddy Holly’s Crickets for my bands.

Perhaps the biggest influence Buddy Holly had on me was as a songwriter.  Within a month of learning guitar I wrote my first song utilizing all five chords I could play.  I found it easier to sing melodies over chord changes on the guitar rather than the piano.  I also loved that Buddy Holly songs were mostly open chords as I had trouble playing barre chords with my weak hands.  His songs were simple, melodic, involved few chords and exuded positive vibes full of hope.  It took me many years of songwriting to realize how difficult it is to write a good, simple song and I’ve found very few people who do it well.

One of those people is Frances England.  My band The Hipwaders’ latest release is a single featuring Frances’ song, “The Books I Like to Read.” I don’t know if Frances has listened to Buddy Holly much but she’s got that Buddy Holly songwriting style. “The Books I Like to Read” is primarily three chords (A-D-E in the key we play it…just like “Peggy Sue”!).  You add Bm & F#m to the bridge and that’s the whole song.  Brilliant.  As the cover of 20 Golden Greats simply depicts, “Buddy Holly Lives.”

Photo by Joel Rosenbaum.

Itty-Bitty Review: "World of Wonder" - Alison Faith Levy

San Francisco's Sippy Cups were one of the first new (21st-century) acts to attract a lot of attention in the wake of the kids music explosion of circa 2006.  They had a big, '60s-inspired sound and look (though they weren't limited by that era), and despite their large size, toured quite a bit.  The band is on hiatus - maybe permanently - but some of the members of the band are making music for kids again.

One of those members, Alison Faith Levy, has a new album, World of Wonder, which will please fans of the Sippies and their psychedelic sounds.  It's targeted more at the preschool demographic that the band had somewhat moved past by the time they went on hiatus, but the sounds are classic Sippy Cup.  The Wall-of-Sound production on "Itsy Bitsy Spider" drew the attention of Greil Marcus, but will still draw in the youngster set.  "Like a Spinning Top" is an energetic movement song that will sound just fine even if you're buckled into a car seat.  And I must admit to adoring the goofy "Baby Anteater" almost as much the song's narrator adores its subject.

Levy's powerful voice and Allen Clapp's production give the "big" songs the oomph they need while giving each song their own personality.  While the sounds and some of the songs (like the title track) may target older kids, the album's greatest appeal is to kids ages 2 through 6.  You can listen to some tracks here.

With World of Wonder, Alison Faith Levy gives her Sippy Cups fans -- and new ones -- a solid collection of songs that will definitely please preschoolers without being too cutesy for those preschoolers' older siblings.  I miss the Sippy Cups, but this will do quite nicely.  Recommended.

A Tasty Review: Four Kids Music Albums for Locavores

Delicious album coverYou don't need to have been locked up in a fast-food restaurant's storage closet for the past few years to know that eating food produced locally has become a Big Thing. Playing around in the dirt and growing fruits and vegetables with bright colors? No wonder that last year's Maria Sangiolo and Friends' album Planting Seeds was just the tip of the iceberg (not the lettuce) when it comes to the mico-genre of "Farmers Market Kindie." I'm not a huge fan of "lesson" music, but it's possible to strike a good balance between entertainment and education. Here are four recommended kids music albums whose musical benefits are as good as the lessons inside. (Note: several food metaphors follow. Tread cautiously.)

The first (and most diverse sonically) album is from Bay Area trio Orange Sherbet, who will release their first album in five years, Delicious, on May 15. The collection of mostly original tunes was inspired by band member Tamsen Fynn's experiences with the Local Foods Wheel, a tool for discovering local, seasonal food in the San Francisco Bay Area. The result of the album Fynn's made with bandmates Jill and Steve Pierce is a sound that's part playground chant, part lounge-jazz, and and a few other genres thrown in, too. (Yes, that is a Santana reference in the Latin guitar rock of "Rice & Beans.) And while sometimes albums that feature lots of different musical genres sound awkward in totality, the result here is much, much closer to the successful, eclectic mix of a Dan Zanes or Dog on Fleas album.  The album's most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9; you can listen to 3 of the tracks here. (Sound intriguing? Check out the band's final Kickstarter campaign.) With Delicious it's likely you'll want seconds.

Groovin' in the Garden album coverNext on the grocery list is Groovin' in the Garden, from New York musician and storyteller Laurie McIntosh, aka Story Laurie. It's focuses much more on playing in the garden. So there are a fair number of traditional or well-known songs ("Shoofly Pie", "Five Little Monkeys", "Hokey Pokey") mixed into the originals from McIntosh. Her partner in crime for the album is New York state producer and musician Dean Jones from the aforementioned Dog on Fleas, who plays nineteen instruments, sings, and probably catered the recording sessions for all I know. It's a little more narrowly folk-focused than Delicious (and geared toward kids slightly younger, 3 through 7), but still features variety in its menu selections.

Grow album coverAndrew Queen represents Canada in this quartet of food-based albums with his latest album Grow. While the fine liner notes feature recipes and some songs -- "Macaroni and Cheese," the traditional "Fried Ham" -- fit very clearly into the food theme, others such as "The Witch's Brew" and "Worms" (no, it's not a paean to composting), seem to, er, strain the theme.  It shares the folk tradition with the other albums here, and musically, the use of instruments like fiddle, banjo, and a well-deployed tuba is reminiscent here.  (There's also a very communal sound to the vocals.)  Queen is more interested in telling stories in song than even Laurie, so if you're looking for something in that vein for kids ages 5 through 9 (and don't need a whole album of songs praising CSAs), this will fit the bill nicely.

Green & Growing album coverAnd for dessert, we have Shannon Wurst's Green & Growing. I've already praised the album packaging, but the songs inside are nice, too.  They are definitely on the preachier side of the food issue (with detours into energy-saving and recycling) -- so if you don't lessons mixed with your music, you're probably better off with the other albums (particularly the first two).  The object lessons aren't always dry, though -- the brief "Label Able Mable" is a tongue-twisting finger-picking ode while "Criss Cross Applesauce" is a soulful activity song.  (Plus, you have a dinosaur on "Recyclasaurus Rex Visit").  The album's best for kids ages 4 through 8, and you can listen to a few tracks here.  For a country-folk take on ecologically sound eating and living, Green & Growing will hit the sweet spot.