Welcome to those of you finding your way here due to my interview with Melissa Block on Wednesday's All Things Considered, her post on her family's favorite recent kids music, my post on my favorite recent kids music, or because you accidentally typed "Zooglobble" instead of, say, "Aniston and Vaughn break up" into your favorite search engine.
Whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here. There's lots of great music for kids and families being released these days, and it's easier than ever to find out about it. I'd like to think this site's played a small role in that -- this site's been active since 2004, and since that time I've reviewed more than 140 CDs, conducted several interviews, and generally spread the word about kids music and musicians.
You can find reviews under the artist links on the right-hand side sidebar. If you're looking for the cream of the (recent) crop, here's my list of the year's 20 best albums, with links. For an even more broad-based approach, check out the 2006 Fids & Kamily Poll, a collection of Top 10 lists from a whole bunch of people who've spent a fair amount of time listening to kids and family music. (My reviews of the winning albums are here, but you should definitely check out the F&K site.)
You might also be interested in the following links:
-- Reviews of the Wee Hairy Beasties' Animal Crackers, Johnny Bregar's Hootenanny, the Jellydots' Hey You Kids!, and Sam Hinton's Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts, all mentioned in the interview. Also, another fall album worth checking out is the Sippy Cups' Electric Storyland.
-- Links to my reviews of albums mentioned by Melissa Block in her listing of her family's favorite kids CDs.
-- Interviews with Dan Zanes, Justin Roberts, and others.
-- My beliefs as they relate to kids music, both for a slightly younger and slightly older crowd.
-- Some Frequently Asked Questions
I have a Myspace page, too. No, I'm still not quite sure why, but if you want to be my "friend," drop me a line.
If you're an artist and are interested in submitting an album for review, I'd love to hear it. Find more details on how to go about this here.
Finally, there are some dedicated writers on kids and family music included in the sidebar there to the right, and I encourage you to check 'em out, but I want to highlight sites run by my fellow Fids & Kamily organizers Amy Davis and Bill Childs, The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think and Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Amy reviews a lot of the same music I do here, but also pays attention to other kid-pop cultural stuff with a breezy writing style. And Bill and his 7-year-old daughter Ella have a great kids radio show that's available via podcast every Saturday (with fun updates during the week).
If you've made it this far, I'm amazed. Have fun exploring and thanks for stopping by.
