Review: Lishy Lou and Lucky Too - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

It is fun to see artists who initially just dip their toes into the family music pond dive in as they get more comfortable in their new waters. 

To extend the metaphor a little bit, when it comes to family music, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band have plunged in with scuba gear and a new houseboat.   Since releasing his debut EP Luckiest Adventure a little more than 3 years ago, Diaz has acquired a full-blown band, married dynamo Alisha Gaddis, and barely stopped to take a breath.

On their fifth and latest album, Lishy Lou and Lucky Too , the couple's energy is used to enliven the record's conceit, loosely structured around the "Lishy and Lucky Radio Show," which may soon be transitioning to a TV show.  The album features a cast of wacky characters (a time traveler, a traveling salesman, a nosy neighbor) united in their taste for bad puns.  The jokes told in the interstitial sketches may amuse your local kindergartner, but will likely generate groans in the adult set.

They sit somewhat uneasily here because they interrupt the true stars, the songs themselves.  Co-written by Diaz, Gaddis, and Michael Farkas, many of them are irrepressible pop hits.  "Thingamajig" is a top contender for the year's best kindie pop song, while "Pockets," about Farkas' character who only communicates via instrument, has a strutting feel.  (The theme song is pretty darn catchy, too.)  It's not solely uptempo -- "Goodnight My Love" is a tender lullaby with nifty guitar work from Diaz. 

The 35-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8.  On one level, the album is an introduction to an actual TV show Diaz and Gaddis hope to make featuring all the characters on the album, and I think that concept will work better there than it does here.  But on another level, with songs about Jackie Robinson and Amelia Earhart, along with the fabulous album closer "When I Grow Up," ("When I grow up / I won't close my ears / to things I may not want to hear"... "When I grow up / I'm gonna dream / farther than my eyes can see") the album is also a celebration of dreamers and doers, of taking chances like Diaz and Gaddis are doing.  On that level, the album succeeds fabulously.  Definitely recommended.

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

World Premiere: "Lishy Lou and Lucky Too" Theme Song

It's been a very busy year for Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band.  Not only did they release the Spanish-language album Fantastico! earlier this year, they've got a second album, Lishy Lou and Lucky Too , set for release next week.

Oh, did I mention that the album is the aural, radio show analogue to a hoped-for Lishy Lou and Lucky Too TV show?

Like I said, very busy.

But although it's all coming out now, Alisha Gaddis -- AKA "Lishy Lou" -- says that she and Lucky "were quietly and crazily working on all this for over a year."

Although Gaddis that she does most of the funny writing in the family ("Lucky is always the head of songwriting and all things musical"), they had some help for the new album.  In addition to having Michael Farkas help Gaddis and Diaz out with songs for the album, writer Chris McGowan wrote the Laugh-In   bits for the album.  McGowan and write Rebecca Leib also wrote a lot of writing for their other project (the TV show).

As for the TV show, Gaddis says they "really want to expose kids to the classic live action television that we grew up with - I Love Lucy, Pee Wee's Playhouse, The Monkees - but with a modern twist."  (The fantastical characters in the picture above are all introduced on the Lishy Lou and Lucky Too website.)  One reason for the TV show, she says, is that "We want to entertain the kids in the Midwest or the far Pacific Northwest (and all those places in between) that we don't get to see face to face otherwise."

Asked whether it's easier or harder to write comedy for children, Gaddis says: 

I think it is just as difficult to write comedy for children as it is for adults.  You must always play to an audience's strengths, integrity and intelligence (at least that is what we believe).  Kids are clever sponges who deserve the best.  That is what we really try to give them.

So here, then, is the world premiere of the video for the Lishy Lou and Lucky Too TV show.