Melissa Block's CD Changer and Ours Look Similar

To those of you visiting here from Melissa Block's post on CDs her family's been enjoying, welcome. You'll find over 140 reviews of CDs here (all accessible from the artist links on the right-hand side of the page), plus news and interviews squeezed in whenever I can find the time.

For what it's worth, you can follow the links below to my reviews of the albums Melissa lists...

-- Catch That Train! - Dan Zanes and Friends (review / interview)
-- You Are My Little Bird - Elizabeth Mitchell (review)
-- New Orleans Playground - Various Artists / Putumayo (review)
-- Alphabet Songs - Steve Weeks (Vol. 2 review, Vol. 3 review)
-- The Johnny Cash Children's Album - Johnny Cash (review)
-- Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts - Sam Hinton (review)

And thanks for stopping by!

Review: Hootenanny - Johnny Bregar

After hearing his debut kids' CD Stomp Yer Feet!, I saddled the Seattle-based musician Johnny Bregar with perhaps an unfortunate tag -- the next Raffi. I considered it a compliment, thinking of Bregar's gifted voice and occasionally soulful reinterpretation of preschooler classics, but there are enough people out there who have such a knee-jerk reaction to the mere mention of Raffi's name that I didn't expect it to be a marketing gold mine.

On his second album for kids, the just-released Hootenanny, Bregar neatly escapes the "next Raffi" tag by pitching his songs at a slightly older crowd. Gone are toddler classics such as "If You're Happy and You Know It" or "I've Been Working on the Railroad," in are folk classics for a slightly older crowd -- the revved-up album opener "Old Dan Tucker" or the straight-up folk last track "Eastbound Freight Train." The younger kids aren't completely ignored -- somewhere Dr. John is crossing "Miss Mary Mack" off his songs-to-record list because Bregar's soulful version will work just as well -- but this time they're the exception and not the rule. I also like his gently bouncing version of "Don't Fence Me In," with an occasional kids' chorus that suggests the lyrics don't just apply to adult cowboys.

Bregar puts a few more original songs on the new album, and for the most part, they're very good. Songs like "Best Friend" and "Airplane" speak to aspirations of five-year-olds. If there's a drawback to the songs, which sound great, is that they're all very Adult Album Alternative-sounding. As opposed to the goofiness of, say, "Pancakes" or "Blah de la" off Stomp Yer Feet!, the songs here are all very polished and may or may not capture kids' fancies.

The album's musicianship is always first-rate, and Bregar has a great voice, one of those things you don't appreciate unless you've heard a lot of kids' music and realize that there aren't that many kids' musicians with great voices. He sounds ever so slightly like Bruce Springsteen and a lot like Justin Currie, the lead singer for the '90s pop band Del Amitri -- in fact, there's even a hint of Del Amitri's sound in the album. (Should I start the rumor that Bregar is actually Currie's alter ego?)

The album's most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 8. You can hear clips from both of Bregar's albums here.

Hootenanny is another strong album from Johnny Bregar, with many songs kids and their adults can enjoy. If it doesn't quite reach the heights of Stomp Yer Feet!, that's only because that album set the bar so high, and if you were scared by the "next Raffi" tag, it's OK to come back -- Bregar's now setting his own path worth following. Definitely recommended.

Lemony Snicket Unplugged

Well, I guess all the Stephin Merritt/Daniel Handler appearances have been unplugged, but none 'til now have been aired on NPR.

Merritt: "I don't think of it as writing for kids. I just think of it as not being allowed to use swear words."

Read my review of The Tragic Treasury here.

Frequently Asked Questions, or, What Is This Place?

Hey! I decided that after 4 1/2 years I should update this thing.

To describe this as "Frequently Asked Questions" would be less than the truth -- few of these questions have been asked, let alone frequently.

They are, however, all questions, and 1 out of 3 is pretty good (if, you're, uh, a hitter in baseball).

Who are you?
I'm Stefan Shepherd, married father of two kids, ages (as of May 2011) 9 and 5. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I currently have about $4 in overdue library fines. (Yes, I updated my outstanding balance for my library fines.)

Who died and made you the Greil Marcus of kids and family music? What qualifications do you have?
Kinda confrontational, aren't you? Well, I have a few fancy letters after my name, but none of them have anything to do with music or kids and families, let alone music for kids and families. But I'm 1) a parent, 2) a big music fan, and 3) able to put together a complete sentence, sometimes even stringing a few sentences together into a paragraph.

Oh, and I'm willing to listen to all this music, separate the wheat from the chaff, and write about it. You're free to start your own website (or comment here) should you disagree with me. Aaaaand, I've been doing this for close to 7 years now. So stop hassling me.

So how much kids' music do you listen to in, say, a year?
I'd guess that over the past year I've listened to at least 300 different CDs. I have no way of proving this, but I'd be surprised if there were a dozen people in America that have listened to as many different kids and family CDs as I have in the past year.

My [however-many-years]-year-old child listens to all the same music I do, and they love it. Shouldn't you be playing your favorite music for your kids instead of listening to this pap?
I think you should be playing music that you really enjoy with your kids. Having said that, what's wrong with also playing music that might be targeted specifically at your child's age, either musically or lyrically? To make a literature analogy -- even if you read John Updike to your kids (which I think you'll agree is probably not the wisest of parental choices), don't you think they might appreciate a nice Mo Willems or "Junie B. Jones" book sometimes, too? And besides, there's lots of fabulous music that's being made in this genre right now -- it'd be a shame if you missed it just because you chose to ignore it.

You aging indie hipsters are all alike -- trying to impose your musical tastes on your kids. Why???
You're, uh, like the exact opposite of the questioner above. (You've also never met me, because those who have would never characterize me as an "aging hipster," O Vague Questioner I've Totally Made Up For the Purpose Of This Post.) I've been a parent long enough to know that imposing cultural taste on kids is a fool's errand. All you can do is expose your kids to music you love and music of all different genres reflecting all sorts of experiences. And if, in the end, they decide to listen to [insert the name of the band you spent many a college night at the bars mocking then singing along to, karaoke-style], that's OK, too.

Who else thinks you know what you're talking about?
NPR's All Things Considered, for whom I review kids music occasionally
SXSW
EMP Pop Conference
Wall Street Journal (twice)
Kindiefest (multiple appearances)
Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live
Arizona Republic, Phoenix New Times (twice), Raising Arizona Kids
Other assorted papers and website (see here for a semi-complete listing)
My mom

Also, I'm the founder of the Fids and Kamily Awards, which I'm pretty proud of.

I like the cut of your jib, sir, and would be interested in having you write something for my fabulous website/newspaper/inflight magazine. Are you interested in such an opportunity?
Possibly.

I've written for Wired , Real Simple, Education.com, and done freelance work for the iTunes store. I wrote for the Phoenix New Times. Brief reviews and blurbs of mine appear at the excellent DC-area venue Jammin' Java. I wrote liner notes for Sarah Lee Guthrie's Smithsonian Folkways album Go Waggaloo.

So, yeah, I've written stuff for others in the past and would be interested in doing so again. Maybe. E-mail me (zooglobble AT earthlink DOT net) and we can talk...

How about booking shows? Do you do that? Because I really need you to book a show for me.
Possibly.

I've booked shows on my own (e.g., this one), as well as a secular series for my church. I currently book a series at the Children's Museum of Phoenix. Other venues may come online at some point.

So, yeah, I'm always interested in helping to spread great live music to new places. If you're looking for someone to put together a kids music series or festival stage (or you're an artist looking to play a show), e-mail me (zooglobble AT earthlink DOT net) and we can talk.

I have the world's most awesome CD for kids and families, and I'm desperate to have you hear it and review it. How can I go about doing so?
Find out more about submitting albums for review here.

Do you know where I can buy the Hoodwinked soundtrack for something short of a developing nation's GDP?
I used to (mymusic.com), but sadly even that supply has dried up. I only wish I knew why the soundtrack went out of print. You are now forced to try eBay or other sites, for which you'll probably have to pay $50 or more... (This actually was one of the few questions on here that I was asked, frequently. The soundtrack is now freely available -- and the movie 5+ years old -- so I never get that question anymore. I keep it here to remind me of those heady days.)

The name "Zooglobble." What's up with that?
Google "Nobody Understands Me" and "Sandra Boynton." That'll get you most of the way there.

Approaching Kids' Music for the Post-Toddler Set

I've realized that my "Approach to Kids' Music" post, originally written (pre-blog) about five years ago when our daughter was just a wee one, doesn't completely reflect my thoughts about kids' music now, particularly as our daughter is now in kindergarten. So for your amusement I'm providing additional thoughts on my original beliefs...

I should note that I'm under no illusion that what I'm saying is revolutionary. Most of it is common sense. Nor am I under any illusion that I have any control over my kids' taste in music -- I don't want to have that control, I just want our kids to be able to enjoy a wide range of music if that's what gives them pleasure and comfort.

But in case you think I'm reviewing music for myself, and not for my kids, I hope this will give you some indication of what I'm thinking of as I review music for slightly older kids...

1) Good kids' music is enjoyable for adults, too: This will never change. Now, having said that, I'm totally aware that there is some kids' music that is made just for kids, and that's OK. But to paraphrase W.H. Auden, who was writing about children's poetry, there are no good songs which are only for children.

2) Not all good adults' music is enjoyable (or even suitable) for kids: As your kids get older, the number of songs that are inappropriate for them to listen to dwindles. They can listen to longer, more complex songs. And they can handle more difficult topics. It's not that they don't hear about life's difficulties from a very young age ("Rockabye Baby" is about a plummeting crib, after all), but for the most part those songs are simple stories or declarations of unconditional love. As kids get older they strengthen their ability to handle scary stuff or stories about life's trials. I know I have to fight my tendency to protect my kids from every problem -- I need to do the same with the songs they hear...

3) Did I say simple was good?: When I said "simple," I was talking about redoing classic children's songs and suggesting that you didn't need cheesy Casio synthesizers. Having said that, as kids get older, they'll want to soak in all different types of experiences -- have them hear zydeco, jazz, classical, electronic arrangements, banjos, autoharps, whatever.

4) Who are you anyway?: No change here -- if you can't tell at a glance who's playing on the CD, put the CD and walk away quickly.

5) No "Stairway to Heaven": I noted that 2 minutes was a good song length for infants and toddlers. Clearly, as kids get older, they can pay attention for much greater stretches of time. So crank up "Freebird" and let them enjoy!