Maker Songs for Maker Kids

I don't know if this generation of kids are any more DIY than previous generations, but those kids with maker tendencies (or parents who want to encourage those tendencies) have never had as many opportunities to indulge them (not to mention temptations to ignore them).

I was listening to The Board of Education's fine new album Binary when it occurred to me that the song "I'm Not Here Right Now," about a kid not so keen on sitting in a classroom but very keen on getting out and constructing and exploring, could be an anthem for today's maker kids.

So here's a playlist to be inspired by the next time you and your kids are turning a cardboard box into a race car, learning basic electronic circuitry, or building your own cardboard drum set.  I tried to stay pretty close to the maker concept (and avoiding music-making or cooking and the like), but strayed occasionally into maker-friendly songs that more generally celebrate imaginative use of found objects and creating one's own entertainment.  (Also, despite the number of tracks covering the Woody Guthrie classic, this is nowhere near the number of versions of "Bling Blang" that are available.)

Yes, I understand the slight irony of listening to others' creative works while creating your own, but nobody's perfect.  Go forth and create!

Maker Songs for Maker Kids [Spotify url]

Billy Kelly – The Ballad of Johnny Box
The Biscuit Brothers – I Did It Myself
The Board of Education – Vasimr (to Mars!)
The Board of Education – I'm Not Here Right Now
The Board of Education – Know Your Inventors, Pt. II
The Board of Education – Know Your Inventors, Part I
The Board of Education – Lunchtime (Tin Foil Robots)
Brady Rymer – Bling Blang
Caspar Babypants – Googly Eyes
Coal Train Railroad – With A Box
Dan Zanes & Friends – Thrift Shop
Dog On Fleas – Bling-blang
Elizabeth Mitchell – Bling Blang
Fox and Branch – Bling Blang
Frances England – Bling Blang
The Hipwaders – Art Car
The Hipwaders – My New Camera
Imagination Movers – Imagination Movers Theme
The Jellydots – Adventure Quest!
Johnny Bregar – Yes I Can
Johnny Keener – Bling Blang
Justin Roberts – Cardboard Box
Keith Munslow – Cardboard Box
Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – Lemonade Stand
Lunch Money – Come Over to My Dollhouse
Matt Clark – Cardboard Box
Metric – Everybody Has a Talent
Monty Harper – My Video Camera
The Pop Ups – Box of Crayons
Ralph's World – Sunny Day Rainy Day Anytime Band
Recess Monkey – Fort
Recess Monkey – Science Fair
Recess Monkey – Toolbox
Recess Monkey – I Got A Toy, But I Played With the Box
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Hot Lava
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Brainstorm
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Bored Is A Bad Word
Sugar Free Allstars – Cardboard Box
They Might Be Giants – Science Is Real
They Might Be Giants – Put It to the Test
They Might Be Giants – Computer Assisted Design
They Might Be Giants – Where Do They Make Balloons?
They Might Be Giants – The Edison Museum

Video: "Sleep Eye" - Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower

I'll have more to say on Elizabeth Mitchell's Grammy nomination for Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie anon, but in the meantime, Mitchell is celebrating with the release of her latest video from the album, for "Sleep Eye."

The track is one of Guthrie's lesser-known tracks, but it's a sweet lullaby, and the gorgeously-filmed video features lots and lots of babies.  It's a pleasant little visual break.

Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower - "Sleep Eye" [YouTube]

Review: Little Seed - Elizabeth Mitchell

Here's my ugly Woody Guthrie secret: I never much liked Woody Guthrie's music.  Not the songs themselves, just their presentation on record.  Neither of his two albums for kids he recorded in 1947 and released in 1956 -- Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child and Nursery Days -- get much play in our house.  To my ears, it almost sounds like Woody was just rushing to get these recorded, and nobody would suggest that these 65-year-old recordings of Woody and his guitar are sonically gorgeous.

The songs themselves, however?  Those are great.  They just needed someone to give them a little tender loving care.

Who better than Elizabeth Mitchell, possessor of one of kids' music most gentle and empathetic voices?  In the decade-plus she's been recording kids' music, she and her husband Daniel Littleton have consistently been one of the best interpreters of songs, drawing both from the folk tradition as well as more modern tunes (Velvet Underground, anyone?).  Each of her previous albums have included versions of Woody Guthrie songs and now on Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie she mixes those versions with some newly recorded tracks for what is now an essential Guthrie-related album, a nice tie-in to the bigger Woody 100th birthday celebrations.

The seven new tracks here are every bit as good as the five that have come before.  "Bling Blang," quite possibly my favorite Woody kids' song, gets a sparse backing arrangement of little more than banjo, ngoni, and knee slaps that is quietly and intensely joyful.  ("Why, Oh Why?," almost certainly my least favorite Woody kids' song -- and that's being generous -- is almost tolerable to me.)  I love Clem Waldmann's percussion on "Rattle My Rattle" and the simplicity of Mitchell and Littleton on "Merry-Go-Round," reminiscent of those lo-fi afternoon recordings on You Are My Flower lo these many years ago.

These songs are most appropriate for kids ages 0 through 5, though kids raised on Mitchell's recordings (ahem) will enjoy them beyond kindergarten.  As alluded to above, five of the tracks on the twelve-track album are previously released and on a 29-minute album, that's no small percentage, and really its only downside.  (The mp3 version on Amazon, currently just $4.99, may be an acceptable compromise, though that would be mean forgoing the as-usual excellent physical packaging from Smithsonian Folkways.)

Longtime Elizabeth Mitchell fans will love the new recordings on Little Seed, and if you're a newcomer to Mitchell's music for families, it's a sweet half-hour introduction to the kids' artist most visible folk interpreter.  She does right by Woody Guthrie.  Definitely recommended.

Video Premiere: "Swimmy Swim" - Little Miss Ann

One little conversation at an Elizabeth Mitchell concert, and before you know it Jeff Giles and Bill Childs are working on a Woody Guthrie tribute album.  It's called Keep Hoping Machine Running (the title is from list of New Year's resolutions from Woody in 1942), and it's being released July 31 on Childs' Spare the Rock Records.  Appropriately enough, given the 100th anniversary of Guthrie's birth, all net proceeds from sales will benefit the Woody Guthrie Foundation.

You can read more from Jeff about the album as well as see the complete tracklist, but I think listening to Chicago's Little Miss Ann perform her contribution ("Swimmy Swim") while a little video scrapbook explains how her track came to be might be even more worthwhile.  As with many of Guthrie's songs, "Swimmy Swim" is pretty simple in its construction, but Little Miss Ann and her band do right by the track.

 Little Miss Ann - "Swimmy Swim" [YouTube]

New Elizabeth Mitchell Woody Guthrie Tribute "Little Seed"

Just as news of They Might Be Giants' releases is worthy of celebration, so is more detailed news of Elizabeth Mitchell's latest album, a tribute to Woody Guthrie in time for the 100th anniversary of his birth.  The album's been in the works for quite some time now, and a couple weeks ago, the album got a title (Little Seed) and a release date.

Now we have a tracklisting and -- even better -- a couple of tracks to listen to.  As with previous albums, Mitchell's accompanied by her husband Daniel Littleton and their daughter Storey.  (She's also got a few guest stars onboard -- Amy Helm, daughter of Levon Helm, and Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, among others.)

It's not an entirely new album -- it does feature 5 previously-released tracks along with the 8 new recordings.  But if you're familiar with the previously-released tracks, then you'll be eagerly awaiting the new stuff.  Go here to listen to "Bling Blang" and "This Land Is Your Land."  Those two tracks definitely whet your appetite for the rest of the album.

TRACK LIST (new tracks in italics):
1. Riding in My Car
2. Bling Blang
3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
4. Why, Oh Why
5. Sleep Eye
6. Who's My Pretty Baby?
7. Rattle My Rattle
8. This Land Is Your Land
9. Merry-Go-Round
10. One Day Old
11. Little Sugar
12. Grassy Grass Grass
13. Little Seed