"Folk Playground is neither 'folk' nor 'playground' -- discuss."
The Putumayo label got its start a number of years ago putting together mix tapes for use in its clothing store. They have since abandoned the clothing store, focusing solely on music, and have developed a kids' music label, Putumayo Kids. The latest entry in the Putumayo Kids series of CDs is the 2006 release of Folk Playground, to be released on Tuesday.
The 33-minute CD may confuse folk purists while also confusing some parents new to the children's music scene. The key component in the definition of "folk" seems to have been whether or not acoustic guitar was included on the track. The "playground" songs -- "This Old Man," "Froggie Went A Courtin'," -- aren't necessarily "folk music" in execution (or, if they are, it sort of stretches the definition.) The term "Folk Playground" is marketing and stretches the definition of what's actually on here.
Now, if you are a devoted children's music listener, you may already have half the songs (or at least half the artists) already in your collection. The problem with the selections from the more familiar artists is twofold. In some cases, the selections are not very representative of the artist's work (Justin Roberts' "Roller in the Coaster," while a nice little song, is a less common type of song for him, compared to the rave-ups; Laurie Berkner has made a name for herself for her originals, not covers. Neither would be considered folk artists.) In other cases, the songs are more representative of the artists' overall work, but not necessarily a highlight from their catalog (Dan Zanes' "Hop Up Ladies," Trout Fishing in America's "Fill It Up," Elizabeth Mitchell's "Crawdad"). These songs are perfectly fine, but I could probably have come up with a half-dozen songs each that I'd've preferred to see on here. (I do think Brady Rymer's "It's All How You Look At It" is pretty good, though.)
Of the less familiar artists (kids' related -- Leon Redbone is hardly an unfamiliar artist), the clear standout song on the CD is Zoe Lewis' "Sheep," about her musings while seeing sheep from far above in an airplane ("I wonder what are you thinking as your little pink lips go round and round and chew / Does night time bring you dreams of spring, mutton, mint sauce, leg of lamb or stew? / (Sorry, sheep)"). It's a sprightly melody, sung with whimsy, and mixed with tin whistle, among other instruments. Forget about the less familiar artists -- it's the best song on the CD, period.
The album is probably most appropriate for kids age 2 through 8. You can download lyrics and listen to sound samples at Putumayo's page for the release.
In the end, after listing all my criticisms, you might be surprised to read that I like the CD. It's a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Putumayo's history as a mix-tape creator serves it very well here as Folk Playground is a CD which will serve as a very pleasant soundtrack to a session of coloring or game-playing. While there are few standout tracks here, the overall listening experience is nice.
Train Songs
In honor of the release of Dan Zanes and Friends' Catch That Train! (review here), I thought I'd list a few songs about trains for kids.
(Note: references to the Island of Sodor will be summarily deleted.)
(Last updated May 23, 2006)
"Catch That Train!" - off of Dan Zanes and Friends' (DZ&F) Catch That Train!, of course
"Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" - also try DZ&F's Catch That Train!
"Wabash Cannonball" - many, try DZ&F's House Party
"Guysborough Railway" - try DZ&F's Night Time
"Rock Island Line" - try DZ&F's Family Dance
A whole bunch of songs on DZ&F's Parades and Panoramas
"Freight Train" - try Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Flower, also (reader-recommended) on Enzo Garcia's Breakfast with Enzo
"Little Red Caboose" - many, try Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb's Catch The Moon
"I've Been Working on the Railroad - many, try Laurie Berkner's version on Buzz Buzz
"New River Train" - try Raffi's New River Train
"Choo Choo Train" - try Ralph's World's debut Ralph's World
"The Little Engine That Could" - try the Hollow Trees' self-titled debut (sorry, Greg!)
-- Yosi also has a "Train Medley" on Under A Big Bright Yellow Umbrella that includes some (if not all) of the songs listed above.
-- Reader BethBC also notes that James Coffey has an entire CD of train-related songs called My Mama Was a Train.
I'm sure there are more, but this is a decent start -- if you post 'em in the comments, I'll add them above.
Three Exciting Words: New. Elizabeth Mitchell. Album.
Or is it four? (Really, are full names one word or more? Any grammaticians out there? Any wordsmiths want to say if "grammaticians" is an actual word?)
In any case, Elizabeth Mitchell, one of the best children's music interpreters out there, announced via newsletter that she'll be releasing her new album in August. It's nice to have the news confirmed by the source.
Perhaps we'll have a "You Are My..." name-the-album contest...
News: New Milkshake News, Old Elizabeth Mitchell News
We cover the waterfront here at Zooglobble, news-wise. There is no expiration date for news here -- a week old, a year old -- if I haven't seen it before, I'm willing to pass it on.
I'm especially happy with these two bits of information, because they involve bands/artists in which women play major roles. My wife is happy, too -- upon hearing recently that we'd soon be getting a female-fronted CD -- she said, "About time!" (Or words to that effect.) Guess our female children's artists' section needs beefing up.
Aaaaanyway, the first bit of news comes from PBS Kids, which announces its Earth Day broadcast plans, including:
"the world premiere of three Earth Day-themed music videos from Milkshake, the award-winning kids' rock band fronted by Lisa Mathews and Mikel Gehl that has captured the ears – and the hearts - of kids and parents alike. The music videos, which focus on taking care of the Earth and keeping it clean, were written exclusively for PBS KIDS Share the Earth Day."Now, aside from the scary fact that Lisa and Mikel are apparently collecting body parts from people (capturing ears and hearts, folks -- wasn't "Silence of the Lambs" set in the Baltimore area?... hmmm....), this does sound kinda cool. Or, at least, I think this could be right in Milkshake's wheelhouse. Check out "Woo-Woo," off Bottle of Sunshine -- I realize that Milkshake's music definitely tends toward the heartfelt, but isn't that exactly the type of thing you'd expect to hear on Earth Day? The second bit of news comes from an old article recently posted (and written) by John Mitchell about an Elizabeth Mitchell concert in June 2005. The whole article is a nice piece on Mitchell (Elizabeth, not John), but I'm particularly interested in the information below (emphasis added):
"Mitchell went on to release two more CDs, one with Lisa Loeb, and is now working on another one. She has begun writing songs specifically for children, but remains committed to unearthing lost musical treasures."Well, given how little her website had been updated recently, I'm not surprised she's (in theory) working on another album. (They Might Be Giants and Dan Zanes are also not paying their webmasters enough to keep their websites hopping with new stuff.) Here's hoping the album comes out in 2006.
Singing in Packs
We attended a singalong at our church tonight. Our church, which we joined a couple years ago, is part of a mainline Protestant denomination; like many such churches a sizeable portion of the congregation is aging. By hosting the singalong, I think the hope was to give pleasure to those parishioners who wanted to sing the "old favorites," while introducing a few of the newer hymns to the congregation.
I attended church rarely as a child, so I was pretty much an open book when my wife and I starting looking for churches to join. Besides such elevated things as "spiritual fit" and such practical things as "child care," I think I subconsciously wanted a church with a strong music program, singing hymns. Not praise bands, which I just cannot get into, but the old stuff. As a person who had a few years of organ lessons in my youth, I guess I have a deep-seated predilection for Bach. And the church we eventually joined definitely had a strong music program. A good choir and music director, a good organist, even the occasional bell choir performance. And no praise band.
The problem is, as someone who's sitting in the pews and not in the choir, there can often be a lot of silence surrounding me. Much like riding a bike you don't forget how to read music once you learn. And so even though I never had any choral training and don't have a "beautiful" voice, I feel like I stand out a bit, just because I'm actually singing. I hoped that many people who don't sing would attend tonight, but I'm not sure how successful it ended up being in that regard.
My other goal in attending was to have my daughter hear a whole bunch of people singing in packs. You see, church is almost the only place people sing together on a regular basis. If you play basketball or softball, you can join any number of city recreational leagues to play with others with similar interests. Scrapbooking? I gather there are parties where people can share their oddly-shaped scissors. Comic books (or, er, graphic novels)? Go to the comics store or even (now) the public library. But singing? Dan Zanes' talk notwithstanding, there's really nothing available for the recreational singer outside of a church setting. I wonder if there will be any church choirs 30 years from now if kids aren't singing on a recreational basis.
My daughter sat patiently through about 45 minutes of hymns she didn't recognize before begging to go to the playground, which we did. (Monkey bars rule, in her eyes.) I think she enjoyed the singalong, though I think she was disappointed that they didn't sing her favorite hymn, "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah," an African-American spiritual which is great for the young'uns because it's a simple melody with simple, repetitive lyrics. I hope she also enjoyed hearing her daddy and all the other adults (and the couple other kids) sing with loud voices and smiles on their faces. She may not like the hymns, but hopefully she'll continue to sing the first verse to "London Bridge Is Falling Down" over and over again.
Elizabeth Mitchell has two or three songs with religious/spiritual background on her two CDs. You can listen to "This Little Light of Mine" and "So Glad I'm Here" at her website. Great stuff, even if you don't care about church.
Spring Songs
Today was the first full day of spring. In most places, it's time for the onset of spring fever, but in the Arizona desert, it's a warning that the good times will soon come to an end. Temperate weather will soon be a distant memory. Our front flower bed can only go downhill from here.
I tried to find some songs about spring in my collection, but pretty much came up empty. Winter has no shortage of songs, as snow and the [pick-your-religion-winter-celebration] lend themselves to songwriting. The other three seasons have fewer songs (I can only think of Laurie Berkner's "What Falls in the Fall?" from Whaddaya Think Of That? as a specifically autumn-related song), but spring I think is particularly deficient. What happens in the spring? Not much visibly, compared to autumn (falling leaves) or summer (general goofing off).
Here, then, is a list of spring-ish songs. Flowers and bugs and a little rain. Rain isn't necessarily for spring alone, but we've gone without much rain this winter and spring and so it's a bit of wishful thinking.
Raffi, "Robin in the Rain" (Singable Songs for the Very Young)
Elizabeth Mitchell, "You Are My Flower" (You Are My Flower)
Laurie Berkner, "In the Clouds" (Buzz Buzz)
Elizabeth Mitchell, "Ladybug Picnic" (You Are My Sunshine)
Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell, "Butterfly" (Catch the Moon)
Ralph Covert, "The Ants Go Marching" (from Songs For Wiggleworms)
Dan Zanes and Dar Williams, "Wild Mountain Thyme" (Night Time!)
Dan Zanes, "On the Sunnyside of the Street" (Rocket Ship Beach)
I suppose there's always XTC's "Grass" or the Talking Heads' "(Nothing But) Flowers," but those aren't really for kids for assorted reasons, now are they?
