Artist: Charity and the JAMband
Album: Family Values
Age Range: 4 to 8
Description: Don't let the peace sign on the album cover fool you. Sure, the fifth album from San Francisco's Charity Kahn and her bandmates is filled with plenty of peace, love, and understanding -- heck, there's even a song titled "Flower Power." But if you think that the music inside will be weak, you'd be wrong. The aforementioned "Flower Power" has a muscular guitar chorus, and it's not the only track that begs to be played loudly out of a speaker (as long as the kids are wearing hearing protection headphones, right?) Not all the tracks are as loud -- see "Grateful" or "Green Beans Everywhere" (which, full disclosure, I helped bring into existence) -- but Kahn and her bandmates take their JAMband moniker seriously. You can hear the 48-minute album here (or via the widget below). Family Values is a musically sprawling album with a compassionate message. The combination of the two will resonate with a number of families. Recommended.
[Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.]
