A Mind of Your Own album cover
Way more than a decade ago, I noted how kids music — at least a lot of the new music produced in the 21st century — hadn’t really taken emotional intelligence as a theme. Several years later, at least some such songs had been written, but it wasn’t a list that you could put on Spotify and listen to for days on end.
I’m sure that list is out of date at this point, but there’s always room for more music that’s tuneful and meets kids where they are, emotionally.
So I’m excited that the venerable Smithsonian Folkways label — who’s long included music in service of kids as part of their catalog — is releasing the debut album from the new duo The Bright Siders. The band consists of singer-singer Kristin Andreassen (charter member of “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color For Your Eyes” Fan Club here) and Brooklyn-based child psychiatrist Kari Groff, MD.
Their album, A Mind of Your Own, is released next week, on January 21, and it’s a whole album inspired, as they put it in the liner notes, “from our shared desire to connect with children through music, and to spark meaningful conversations between adults and children about growing up and all the emotions that go with it.”
On the track I’m world-premiering today, “Jumping Through Hoops,” the duo turns over singing duties to Zara Bode and Gabe Witcher, two of many artists Andreassen and Groff bring on board for the project. Groff says that the song is a tribute to all those New York City kids who do so much to handle the intensity of a big, hot crowded city and is “intended to inspire all children to have courage and perseverance, especially during tough times.” The song itself is a loping bit of positivity with a sweet bit of fiddle.
Times are tough at the moment — perhaps you need this, too.
Anyway, I’m happy to world-premiere this track — you can find it in all the usual places.
Andreassen and Groff in front of a colorful building (Credit: Jefry Andres Wright)
Photo credit: Jefry Andres Wright
