Award Season is Around the Bend...

Those East Coast and Midwestern bloggers beat me to the punch, but congratulations to Frances England for winning a Oppenheim Platinum award for her fabulous debut Fascinating Creatures.

(And, on a completely unrelated note, every time I hear about the Oppenheim awards, I keep on wanting to call it the Oppenheimer awards, thanks mostly to the Old 97's, who had a great track by that name off their 1999 CD Fight Songs. Unfortunately, that track's not available at their website, but you can hear samples from that album and others here.

How Do You Like Dem Apples, Gustafer?

News is slowly trickling out about V2/Artemis Records' new kids music imprint, Little Monster Records. And so far, they're batting 1.000. (See? It's baseball playoff time, and I made a baseball reference? Get it? Yeah, OK.)

Not only have they signed up Gustafer Yellowgold, as previously rumored (they'll be re-releasing Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World DVD in March), they've also signed Robert Schneider, leader of the indie rock band The Apples in Stereo. Schneider's alter ego Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine (with the year's best PR line -- "If the number of B's in a name represented fun, Robbert Bobbert & The Bubble Machine have cornered the market!") will release an album for Little Monster in spring 2007.

They'll be performing together at Joe's Pub in New York City on Saturday, Nov. 4. Should be a blast -- if you're in NYC, go.

I've Got the Munchies for Kids' Music

We've been talking a lot about adult rockers' recording music for kids, but sometimes the path goes in the other direction.

The Showtime drama Weeds has featured not one but two pieces of kids' music in its second season -- "Little Monkey" from Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang and "Crazy Dazy" by Chris Ligon (featured on the Bloodshot Records' excellent The Bottle Let Me Down compliation).

In fact, Gwendolyn and co-conspirator Brandon Jay are the co-composers for the season, so I believe music supervisor Gary Calamar had inside knowledge when he wrote of Gwendolyn's reaction to the use of "Little Monkey" in the episode.

"You should have seen Ms Gwendolyn's face when she saw Silas and Megan monkeying around to her song. I don't believe this is what she had in mind when she wrote it. Makes me smile!"

Gwendolyn also contributed another song to the show, "Happy Clappy Birthday," which, until recently, was on the show's Myspace page. It was almost a satire of cutesy kids' music until the final verses took a more... downbeat view.

(You can listen -- or attempt to listen, as the player gave me some difficulties -- to all these tracks, or at least the first 15, happy seconds of "Happy Clappy Birthday" by following this link.)

What other kids' songs would you love get broader exposure?

Parents' Choice Fall 2006 Music Awards Announced

The Fall 2006 Parents' Choice Awards have been announced, and many of the winners will look (and sound) familiar to faithful Zooglobble readers. Raffi earns a "Classic" designation for his compilation of lullabies Quiet Time while Dan Zanes and Friends earn a "Gold" designation for Catch That Train!. I was happy to see Owen Duggan earn a "Silver" for An Elephant Never Forgets, along with Trout Fishing in America (for My Best Day). Other winners reviewed here include Campfire Kev, Monty Harper, Hullabaloo, Richard Perlmutter (Beethoven's Wig), Rebecca Frezza, and Asheba.

Congratulations to all the winners. See below for links to my reviews of the CDs receiving acclaim.

Reviews
Quiet Time
Catch That Train!
An Elephant Never Forgets
My Best Day
The Pet Project
Paws, Claws, Scales & Tales
Sing Along With Sam
Beethoven's Wig 3
Tall and Small
Children are the Sunshine

Review: Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts - Sam Hinton

Originally released in 1961, Sam Hinton's Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts is a classic beloved by many families. In August, Smithsonian Folkways re-released the album (for the first time on CD) so that a new generation of families could hear these stories in songs.

If the only thing Sam Hinton did in his life was direct the Scripps Oceanographic Institution in southern California for about 20 years, that by itself would be a full life. The fact that he's also an accomplished musician (reportedly knowing 5,000 songs) and artist (doing the drawings for the reknowned Rise Up Singing collection) makes me feel, well, that perhaps I could perhaps do a little bit more on the side. Or in my full-time job.

Anyway, the 20 tracks showcase Hinton's clear voice -- he nimbly navigates fast songs like "Michael Finnegan" while giving character to somewhat more midtempo tunes like the gently bouncing "Mr. Rabbit" or sweet songs like "The Eagle's Lullaby." And his talent for vocal mimickry is adeptly shown on tracks such as "The Barnyard Song," on which he, yes, imitates many barnyard animals. (Given Hinton's "daytime" job, it's not surprising that many of songs deal with animals and the natural world.) Hinton accompanies himself on guitar; it's unobtrusive, but it's the lyrics and melody that are the stars here.

I think kids ages 2 through 7, along with their associated adults, will appreciate these stories in songs the most. You can hear samples of the tracks at the album's Folkways page. I also should note Folkways' typically excellent album package, which in this case features Hinton's excellent notes on the songs along with an introductory essay from Bess Lomax Hawes.

Whoeve Shall Have Some Good Peanuts is reminiscent of a Pete Seeger album, sharing a fine voice and a strong folksinging tradition. There is a looseness, however, to the interpretations that also reminds me of Woody Guthrie's kids' albums. If you have any affinity for the albums of those two artists, you will certainly enjoy this album. Recommended.