That Bar's Getting Longer...

Time I expanded the sidebar links. You're probably familiar with many of these, but if not, explore a bit...

Maybe you're familiar with the Fids and Kamily Awards? (OK, yeah, you probably are.) Anyway, there's a new link there. I've been tallying votes, and I'm really excited about the list.

Kids Music Sites: I've added Eric Herman's fine Cool Tunes for Kids website, on which he wears a reviewers' hat and a musician's outfit, or some other mixed metaphor like that.

Radio Shows: Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child will always be the #1 radio show around here, but in case you need a kids' music fix during the week, you can listen to Gooney Bird Kids or Loopy Moose Radio as well. I've also updated the Greasy Kid Stuff link to note their new playlist location.

Stores: Amazon and CD Baby you know about. If you're looking for a more selective list, the Land of Nod has a decent selection of kids' music online (and has the occasional podcast from artists like Justin Roberts and Dan Zanes), while the Pokey Pup has a good selection.

KidLit: You think it's hard listening to all sorts of new kids and family music from across the country? Imagine the amount of stuff that people who review literature for kids have to wade through. There are tons of sites out there, so start with Big A little a, A Fuse #8 Production, and Book Buds and start from there.
(Oh, and did you know they've got an end-of-the-year award process, too? See the Cybils for more.)

Other Stuff of General Parental Interest: I like the writing at Cynical Dad, Daddy Types, Family Man Online, and Neal Pollack's The Maelstrom. I just felt like I should goose their Google numbers ever so slightly.

Review: Rockin' In the Forest With Farmer Jason - Farmer Jason (Jason Ringenberg)

There are those who, upon hearing Rockin' In the Forest With Farmer Jason, the recently-released second album from Farmer Jason, might wonder: Could this be the very same Jason Ringenberg who fronted "Jason and the Scorchers"? It sounds so... so... different.

Those of us who have heard A Day at the Farm..., his first kids' album, know that it's definitely him.

The hard part for older listeners to get used to when listening to Rockin' In the Forest is the sheer exuberance of the whole thing -- shiny, gleaming horns on the poppy leadoff track "The Forest Oh!" or the modern country production of the slightly mournful melody of "Arrowhead." The wellspring of exuberance, however, is Farmer Jason himself, who is just so darn enthusiastic that it might drive some parents nuts. Except that he goes so far beyond the line that there's that glimmer of "yes, I know this is all a little too much, but your kids are eating this up, aren't they?, so just play along." I love the deadpan way he says he's going to "sing a song about a moose on the loose called... 'He's a Moose... on the Loose.'"

Ringenberg knows his way around a bunch of musical styles, from the spaghetti western stylings of "Ode to a Toad" to the Django Reinhardt violin noodlings of "A Butterfly Speaks" to smallest, simplest (and perhaps best) song on the whole disk, the virtually a cappella "Mrs. Mouse." He wraps the melodic nuggets around lyrics that introduce young listeners to different animals in the forest (natch). While the cover and liner note art suggest very anthropomorphized approaches (ugh -- did I just use the phrase "anthropomorphized approaches"?) to the subject, the actual lyrics play it straight for the most part.

Kids ages 3 through 8 are the ones most likely to appreciate Jason's enthusiastic approach and lyrical focus here. You can hear samples wherever fine kids' music is sold (on the Internet, anyway).

If you liked A Day at the Farm..., you'll also like this new album, as it's very similar in tone, maybe a little broader musically. I'm giving this album a "Recommended," but it's with the warning that you're going to have to detach that little parental "I'm too cool for this" monitor in your head -- if you can do that (your kids don't -- or shouldn't -- have one yet), you'll enjoy this just fine. Recommended.

I Wanna Be Sedated. Or Burped.

[Suggested alternate, overused headline: "Rock 'N' Roll Preshool."]

I know I'm late with the news on these two releases, but enough time has passed with at least one to make another post worthwhile...

Baby Rock Records made a splash with news of their Roackabye Baby! series of lullaby renditions of hit songs from such well-known kids artists as Barney Radiohead and Metallica. Baby Rock has continued the series, with a Nirvana collection released last week. I've got my eye on the Pixies collection that's coming out Jan. 2nd. (They won't have to change "Wave of Mutilation" at all!)

Taking a different tack, you have Go-Kart Records, who on Nov. 21 are releasing Brats on the Beat, a 12-track collection of classic Ramones tracks with kids singing on the choruses and Actual Punk Musicians (from Pennywise, the Donnas and Queens of the Stone Age, among others) singing lead.

Of the two concepts, the lullaby album series intrigues me more because there are some great melodies, not just on the Pixies CD, but on just about every CD in the series. It doesn't interest me so much as a parent but as a fan of the music. A great re-interpretation (see the Easy Star All-Stars' reggae version of Radiohead's "Karma Police", for example) is just another way to appreciate a classic song. The Ramones album could be pretty good, but it essentially appears to be a Kidz Bop Punk album, albeit with higher street cred.

Review: Not For Kids Only - David Grisman and Jerry Garcia

Not For Kids Only, the 1993 album from David Grisman and Jerry Garcia, is great idea for a kids' album. Two stellar musicians playing songs meant for singing along with, as the liner notes ask the listener to imagine hearing Grisman and Garcia playing songs after a large dinner gathering. (Can I be invited? I make a killer cranberry sauce.)

In execution, this album meets the standard set by the idea. Grisman's and Garcia's mandolin and guitar playing, respectively, are sharp and they're backed by a set of rotating sidemen playing assorted percussion or other instruments. The song selection is a nice mixture of songs well-known ("Freight Train," "Teddy Bears' Picnic") and not-so-well-known ("Three Men Went A-Hunting" or "When First Unto This Country"). The songs are given primarily (though not exclusively) bluegrass/folk treatments -- appropriate, of course, for the material at hand.

And despite all that, after repeatedly listens, the album itself is unlikely to make much of an impact on you or your family. It's just too... pleasant. There's no grit here, it's all so darn genial that while it'll make great "quiet time" music for lazy afternoons, there's little that will make you say, "listen to this!, my kids love this song!" Some of the songs, like the gently peppy "Hopalong Peter" or the slow Dixieland swing of "Teddy Bears' Picnic" do break out of the mold (and mood) of the rest of the album. But they're the exception, not the rule.

I think kids ages 3 through 7 are most likely to enjoy the CD. The album itself is so old there's no website for it (can you believe it? do those albums even exist anymore?), so find yourself your favorite online retailer for music samples.

I do want to make clear that Not For Kids Only is not a bad album. The musicianship is top-notch and the very idea that people should go ahead and sing for their own families is what inspired artists such as Dan Zanes. But it's not likely to be the first disk you or your kids reach for when you or they want to hear something that moves them.

Kids Music Phanaticism in Philly

Phoenix might have just passed Philadelphia to become the nation's fifth-largest city and while I'm sure there can be plenty of trash-talk exchanged at such a time, one thing is clear -- Philly has Phoenix's kids-and-family music scene whupped.

Just check out the list of upcoming artists at World Cafe Live's Peanut Butter & Jams Series: Lunch Money, SteveSongs, Trout Fishing in America, They Might Be Giants, Gustafer Yellowgold, the Deedle Deedle Dees, AudraRox, Rebecca Frezza, Ernie & Neal, Uncle Rock, Justin Roberts, and Robbie Schaefer. Among others.

Whew. That's an impressive list, for whom much credit needs to go to Stephanie Mayers, who's moved on to do PR work for artists.

Did I mention that the golfing is excellent this time of year 'round here?