Itty-Bitty Review: Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue - Papa Crow

Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue

I praise the willingness of musicians to follow wherever their idiosyncratic muse takes them, and by that measure, few kids musicians would receive higher praise than Michigan's Jeff Krebs, aka Papa Crow.  It's not that he changes musical styles dramatically from album to album -- you can hear his gentle folk-pop on his fine albums Things That Roar and Full Moon, Full Moon and you can also hear it on his EP about farting and tooting, What Was That Sound?.  It's the subjects that are wildly different.

You can also hear his folk-pop on his latest EP, Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue.  His subject this time? The nonsense poems of 19th century writer Edward Lear.  Accompanied with nothing but his vintage 1947 Gibson guitar, Krebs tells these stories through melodies he's written for the album.  Lear might be most well-known for his poem "The Owl and the Pussycat," which Krebs includes here, but the strongest songs to my ear are the leadoff track, the sea-shanty-like "The Jumblies," and the blues-y "Calico Pie."  (Special shout-out to Krebs for recording the 110-line "The Courtship of the Yonghy Bonghy Bo," which Krebs reports took him 54 attempts to reach a suitable take.)

The album will be most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8.  You can stream and purchase the 19-minute EP here.  Kids will need to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy the songs here -- they do require some attention -- and these may work better mixed in with other songs, rather than in one set.  But it's a fun album nonetheless.  Settings of 150-year-old poetry to song is probably not the way to kindie fame and fortune, but I'm glad that Papa Crow has chosen to explore this particular side path.  Recommended.

Note: I was given a (digital) copy of the album for possible review.

Review: Full Moon, Full Moon - Papa Crow

Michigan-based musician Papa Crow zigs and zags.  His hushed, heartfelt debut Things That Roar was earnest, while the follow-up EP What Was That Sound? was… well, maybe it was heartfelt, too, but it was a heartfelt and fun album about flatulence, so I think you see my point about the zigging and zagging.

Having gotten toots out of his system -- so to speak -- Papa Crow (aka Jeff Krebs) returns to the warmth of his debut with his recent release Full Moon, Full Moon.  If the first album sounded a little bit like it was recorded in the middle of a Michigan winter, this new album has a sunnier, more expansive feeling, like it was recorded over the course of some long Michigan summer days with many friends.

"Moving to the Beat" is a gentle ska-tinged tune featuring organ and saxophone, while "Great White Pine" is straight-ahead bluegrass tune about camping.  If "I Wanna Rock & Roll" starts out softer than I'd expect a song titled that to begin, it ends with a suitably loud riff.  Krebs says the album loosely follows a day in the life of a child from sunup to sunup, so as you'd expect, a lot of the album's second half is mellower -- "Give Some, Get Some," featuring Frances England, is a highlight, as is the title track and "The Michigan Waltz," the latter written by Krebs' grandfather.

You can listen to 3 full songs from the 42-minute album (most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 8) here.  The album is made with evident care and craft, and will again appeal to families who are fans of Frances England, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Dan Zanes, artists who originally inspired Papa Crow.  This album which celebrates the outside world is a worthy successor to both of its predecessors -- more so the debut than the cheekier EP -- and worth checking out regardless of how well you know his music.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I was given a copy of the album for possible review.

How I Got Here: Jeff Krebs AKA Papa Crow (Heart / Dan Zanes)

The first album from Papa Crow, AKA Michigan's Jeff Krebs -- Things That Roar -- charmed just about everybody who heard it with its tender folk.  As if to clear the air, so to his speak, his follow-up, What Was That Sound?, was a five-song EP about flatulence.

Krebs is clearly a man of many talents and inspiration -- in addition to working on his full length follow-up Full Moon, Full Moon (clips here), he's also working on an EP of monkey-based ukulele songs (Monkeylele, clips here) and an EP based on Edward Lear poems (Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue, clips here and here).

At this point, I'd accept just about anything as his musical inspiration.  As it is, Krebs offers up two albums -- Heart's 1976 hit album Dreamboat Annie and Dan Zanes' [in my view totally overlooked] Sea Music.

***** 

The first album that I remember becoming completely obsessed with was Heart's debut Dreamboat Annie.  As a youngster, I always had an ear to the radio and I kept lists of all the songs on American Top 40, making notes of songs I liked and disliked. I had heard the singles “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You” and felt an immediate connection to the album after successfully lobbying my mom to buy it for me. I wonder how many times I listened to this in my room with the headphones on, memorizing the liner notes, lyrics and photos. I knew which drummer and which guitarist played on each track. The pictures of Heart on the inside cover foldout made me want to start a rock band; it seemed like the most exciting thing one could do. Within a few years I had a little garage band of my own.

On Dreamboat Annie, Heart served up mystical tales of love, rock and roll, and the sea. Ann's sultry voice was way up front, and she could wail or sing a ballad with equal power. I loved the way Nancy Wilson's inventive acoustic playing contrasted the muscle of Roger Fisher's electric. There were more soft songs here than rockers, though the rockers were the hits. It all worked sonically for me, and I would never tire of spinning this album. There are numerous albums like Pink Moon, Revolver, and Rain Dogs that were probably more influential on me later in life, but Dreamboat Annie was my first love.

Fast forward a few decades to when my wife and I were expecting our first kid. I'm on YouTube searching for kids songs and click on Dan Zanes singing “All Around the Kitchen”. Here's a guy with whacky hair, a purple suit, a cheap guitar and a diverse band singing a silly, rocking song while dancing around with kids. I was floored by the vibe! This video opened a door for me into the possibilities of what family music can be. I checked Dan's catalog and ordered Sea Music as I was most drawn to it.

What an album! I immediately loved the feel of these old sea shanties. The sound is natural, simple, homemade; it's the sound of a bunch of friends singing around a campfire (or on the deck of a whaling ship). Guitars, banjos, accordions and mandolins provide the backing. Take “All for Me Grog” for example: Zanes has a boy (backed by other kids) sing this boozy lament—it even has “arse” in the lyrics! Now, that's pushing the limits of family music, and certainly one of my all-time favorite recordings. What Zanes was doing seemed so appealing and I really tuned into family music, checking out dozens of kids music CDs at the library and finding what worked for me, artists like Elizabeth Mitchell, Dog on Fleas and Frances England. I was writing my own family songs before my first boy was born. I have since bought most of Dan's amazing family music albums, but Sea Music remains a favorite as it was my first.

I have lived close to the water for most of my life. I grew up on Lake Michigan, worked on San Francisco Bay boats for many years, and now my family and I live a couple of blocks from Lake Superior. Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe it has something to do with why the sea-themed Dreamboat Annie and Sea Music were such big influences on the music I make.