Classic Songs & Traditional Tunes - Andy Z

Classic Songs and Traditional Tunes album cover

Artist: Andy Z

Album: Classic Songs & Traditional Tunes

Age Range: 3 through 7

Description: If you review music long enough, you run the risk of being overly enamored of the new and of novelty because you've "heard it all before."  So this album of 15 songs from the Bay Area-artist Andy Z runs the risk of being overlooked simply because it's a set of classic songs performed with few twists.  But that's also the very reason why it might appeal to someone -- it's the sort of album that isn't made much anymore.  I mean, I like a unique take as much as the next person, but trying to find an album of standard interpretations that has a modicum of production quality is harder than you might think.

Andy Z takes a country-folk approach to the songs, and the songs that have a Western/cowboy hook to them -- "I've Been Workin' On the Railroad," "Don't Fence Me In," "Ghost Riders in the Sky" -- fare best of all.  The album also benefits from songs like "Ghost Riders" and "Shake a Friend's Hand" (along with unfamiliar-to-me lyrics for "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") that aren't as overplayed as the other traditional tunes.  It's a bit languid for my tastes in spots -- there are definitely songs where I would have appreciated a Dan Zanes-style kick in the electronic guitar rear -- but the band and its guests, all of whom play a host of stringed instruments, make it sound appealing.

The 38-minute album won't be to the tastes of families needing a more modern take on traditional songs (or a traditional take on modern songs and subjects), but I'd recommend it for families whose music collection has a gap for these types of songs -- it fills that gap quite nicely.

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

Backyard Garden - Earthworm Ensemble

Backyard Garden album cover

Artist: Earthworm Ensemble

Album: Backyard Garden

Age Range: 4 through 8

Description: The Los Angeles group refines their alt-country indie-rock but keeps the eco-sensibility on their second album, the follow-up to their 2010 self-titled debut.  As a person who has heard more kids music than 99.999% of parents (99.99999%?), I don't need to hear songs like "Compost" or "Reduce Reuse Recycle," which take a more instructional view of encouraging a greater awareness of the natural world (and our impact as a part of it), though I was amused by the Beach Boys homage midway through the latter track.

More subtle, but still vivid, are songs like the alt-country pop of "Ladybug" or the Beck-ian shuffle of "Bees Make Honey."  Telling the story of the predator-prey relationship between moles and coyotes Rashomon-like in two songs -- the bluesy "Mole vs. Coyote" (from the mole's point of view) and the driving "Coyote vs. Mole" (the coyote, natch) -- is particularly innovative.

The 46-minute album features a large cast of guests joining the heart of the band with the resulting songs given a nice sound -- ramshackle when called for, but mostly well-polished.   Listen to three songs from the album here.  Lots of albums celebrating the natural world can feel stiff and didactic, but Backyard Garden avoids those traps for the most part.  It's an album your family would conceivably listen even if it's not the week of Earth Day.  Recommended.

Bunny in the Moon - DidiPop

Artist: DidiPop

Album: Bunny in the Moon 

Age Range: 2 through 6

Description: For her latest album, Los Angeles-based Deborah Poppink AKA DidiPop structured tracks into two parts: 1) calm down!, 2) go to sleeeeeep.  The "calm down!" part didn't interest me given its more "do this" bent, but the last track of the four, the samba-inflected "I Love You Mommy" and a lot of the lullabies on tracks 5 through 14 work quite well.  The title track and "Snuggles and Books" (featuring a lot of shout-outs to famous bedtime stories) are the standouts.  The 37-minute album (listen to it here) has a very personal feel and takes awhile to fully slow down, so it's not perfect for everyone.  (I personally like my lullaby albums hushed and rustic.)  But it's well-produced and not too goopy.  Recommended.

Family Values - Charity and the JAMband

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.]

Sing Loud! - Melissa Green

Artist: Melissa Green

Album: Sing Loud!

Age Range: Ages 5 through 9

Description: A muscular guitar-pop album from the Los Angeles-based Green.  A lot of the songs ("Baby, I Love You," the title track) could fit on an album not targeted at the elementary school crowd.  Brooke Shields (who knows her way singing around Broadway tunes for adults) makes an appearance on a couple tracks.  In fact, the specifically kid-focused songs ("The Playdate" or "Heyo") are the exception, not the rule.  Even the classic "Free To Be... You and Me" gets a propulsive arrangement that makes the original sound a little... weak.  It's my favorite of Green's albums, and families looking for a kid-friendly album that doesn't necessarily always sound like "kids music" may find this fits the bill.