Listen To This: "Colander Sun" - Lard Dog & The Band of Shy

So there's song about colanders and... well, that's all I really need to say, because, c'mon, do you really need to hear yet another song about puppies or holidays or friendship when you can hear an ode to colanders? The number of kids' artists I figure as being up for a song featuring colanders is pretty small, and Lard Dog & The Band of Shy is definitely amongst them.

"Colander Sun" is part of the band's "Song-of-the-Month" project where they're releasing one song each month, given for free for the price of an e-mail address. The song is, according to the band "in honor of Lard Dog's ancestry and in appreciation for this shiny, often over-looked option for a hat choice." Yes, that's weird, but that's par for the course for the band, prepping its next full length album, Dreamers, out September 22. Even ignoring the lyrical subject matter, it's got a nifty, blues riff on the guitar, and some fabulous vocals in the second half of the song from Sharaé Moultrie. It's good for your spleen, or, at least, will cause no damage whatsoever.

Lard Dog & The Band of Shy - "Colander Sun" [Soundcloud]

Radio Playlist: New Music August 2017

In the midst of summer, and I've nine songs for your family's enjoyment. (If you want more, why not check out the June list here? Nope, no July list this time around...)

As always, these Spotify playlists are limited in that if an artist hasn't chosen to post a song on Spotify, I can't put it on the list, nor can I feature songs from as-yet-unreleased albums. But I'm always keeping stuff in reserve for the next Spotify playlist.

Check out the list here (or right here in you're in Spotify).

**** New Music August 2017 (August 2017 Kindie Playlist) ****

"Gonna Be Great" - David Tobocman

"Rock Island Line" - Dan Zanes w/ Billy Bragg

"Hot Nights (with Pat Sansone)" - Gustafer Yellowgold

"Big Backyard" - Michelle Bloom

"Who's Your Favorite Beatle?" - Lard Dog & the Band of Shy

"My Cat's a Cow" - The Battersby Duo

"Firefighters" - Annie Allauzen

"Fantastic" - I Happy Am

"Just Dance" - twinkle

Interview: Ella Jenkins and Tony Seeger on Camp Songs

Ella Jenkins needs no introduction, and I have to believe the Venn diagram would show the overlap between "readers of this website" and "people who don't know Ella Jenkins" to be very slim indeed, but in case you reside in that area, Jenkins is a living legend in kids music, leading multiple generations in song, encouraging tolerance and togetherness will little more than her voice, a guitar or ukulele, and good humor.

She's been recording with Smithsonian Folkways for sixty years (not a typo), and earlier this summer she celebrated her 93rd birthday and released her latest album with them, Camp Songs with Ella Jenkins and Friends. It's a collection of songs that might sound familiar to anyone who's spent time at a sleepaway camp of any sort, or even just a day camp. She partnered with kids and musicians from Chicago's venerable Old Town School of Folk Music and with Tony Seeger and Kate Seeger.

The Seegers are siblings -- their parents ran Camp Killooleet in Vermont, and Kate runs it today along with her husband. (Here's an article about the camp.) Pete Seeger was their uncle, so they have some experience making music with living legends. And Tony Seeger is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA and the Director and Curator emeritus at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. All in all, a pretty good match for Ella.

I asked Ella a couple questions about the album, then reached out to Tony for more details.

When I asked Ella why it's important for kids to sing together, she responded with the importance of "sharing, leadership, [and] working together." She said these "are all tools for a happy life."

As for favorite memories of the recording session(s) for this album, she agreed that "it was a wonderful project." Ella noted that "many, many people helped create this recording [and] it was all memorable."

Tony went into more details about camp singing memories and recording the album -- and if you want more insights, I recommend reading the liner notes (available at the Folkways album page link above).

Tony Seeger holding copies of Ella Jenkins Camp Songs CDs

Zooglobble: What are your favorite memories of camp singing growing up?

Tony Seeger: For Kate and me our favorite memory is of our parents singing and leading songs at campfires and other camp events. They met as counselors at a summer camp and went on to run Camp Killooleet in Vermont for nearly 50 years. They loved to sing in harmony on such standards as “Summertime” and “Birth of the Blues.” My father taught his younger brother, Pete Seeger, to sing in harmony on long trips in the car. My father also led singalongs like “Jacob’s Ladder” with the campers. Kate and I learned to play instruments at Killooleet and began to accompany our parents when we were in our teens. We have been singing at Camp Killooleet, where Kate Seeger is now the co-director with her husband Dean Spencer, for most of our lives.

What do you appreciate about camp songs now as an adult?

Camp songs can create a community feeling in a group of insecure campers who may be homesick or don’t know each other very well. We find campers are always delighted to be asked to sing along rather than sitting still and listening. They are then equal participants and we are creating the performance together. Over 14 million children and adults attend summer camps each year, and the music they enjoy together often creates an enduring bond and stimulates fond memories of the time they spent together.

If you could only sing three camp songs to get a group singing together, what would they be?

For me, they would be a call-and-response song like “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” (which is on this CD), a gesture song like “The Court of King Caractacus” (which is on the CD), and a multipart song from Africa like “Bayeza” (not on this CD, though we tried it out).

What are your favorite memories of the recording session(s) for this album?

Ella has a delightful sense of humor which made the long hours in the studio much more fun. She regaled us with stories about singing at summer camps, only one story of which is on the CD (at the start of track 12, “Hill Was Steep and Tall”). She reminisced about learning camp songs from her brother and how to play the harmonica from her uncle. After the studio sessions with the children ended and they were getting ready to leave, Ella spent hours talking with them and their parents. Her enjoyment of the children, her unexpected skills on the harmonica, and her enthusiasm for the project are all warm memories. She asked me and Kate to accompany her on songs we didn’t know beforehand. Even when I didn’t sing “The Damper Song” very well, she rewarded me with a “That’s good!”—as she has done for generations of children and adults singing along with her.

How did you think about Ella’s role in the album?

Ella had proposed recording an album of camp songs years ago, but she and I were always too busy until the opportunity came to record one in a studio in Chicago with a group of musicians and children from the Old Town School of Folk Music. She sent Kate and me a list of songs for the album, and we proposed some rounds and songs for older campers, which she approved. She has been recording for Folkways for 60 years, so her voice was not as strong as she had hoped when the time came to record. So she sang on a few songs, played the harmonica on some, and led the children singing on a few more. Even though many musicians participated in the album, it was her spirit, her musicianship, her generosity, and her enthusiasm for having the children sing along that made this project what it is.We just helped her make it happen.

Why is it important for kids to sing together?

Not all camp music is singalongs. Children also like to listen to each other sing solo, and to adults, But singing together can transform a group of campers into a cohesive and active group. Focusing on something together and sharing the experience of learning something new together helps create a community feeling. Moving together is fun, too. Ella Jenkins has been encouraging children to sing and to move during her whole career, and that works well at summer camps too.

Ella Jenkins (2nd from left), Tony Seeger (far right), and Smithsonian Folkways staffers Tony Harvin (far left) and Atesh Sonneborn (2nd from right) at 2017 Square Roots Festival

Photo credits: Bernadelle Richter (Ella), Lynn Orman (Tony), Tim Ferrin (group)

Here's To The Dreamers (Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band's "Made in L.A.")

There's always been a touch of fantasy in Lucky Diaz's music for families. From Diaz's first kids' EP's very first single, the strutting blues "Blue Bear," Diaz has often trafficked in a milieu that's familiar but not quite this world. Filled with no small amount of anthropomorphic animals, Diaz's world is saturated with color and tastes like cotton candy.

The dream-like nature doesn't just apply to the animals, it applies to Diaz's thematic touchpoints. Throughout his discography, Diaz returns repeatedly to the idea of dreams and aspirations. This is a band who dreamt of creating a TV show, made an album that gave voice to the show whose heart was the songs about dreamers and hard workers like Jackie Robinson and Amelia Earhart, and then produced the show (and won an Emmy Award for it to boot).

It is this second meaning of "dreams" that Diaz and the Family Jam Band explore to tremendous effect on their latest album, the just-released Made in L.A.. As the center of film and TV production in the United States (and, arguably, the world), not to mention a major locus of music production Los Angeles holds a place in the imagination of artists and dreamers looking for their big shot. La La Land is but the most recent fantasia on Los Angeles as the locus for dreams writ large. Yes, as you can guess by the title, the album is an ode to the city of dreams, but it's also an ode to the dreamers that flock there.

The album kicks off with "The Magic Believers," specifically with Diaz singing, "I've got a voice in my heart / For some it's not much / But for me it's a start / But I will / Dream it out loud..." and fellow Los Angeles artist Mista Cookie Jar rapping "We come from the city by the sea called L.A. / Where people live to share their dreams on the center stage..." It doesn't sound like anything Diaz has recorded before, dreamy and AutoTuned six ways from Sunday, and it's absolutely wonderful.

That's followed by "Silver Lake Stairs," another dream-like song. This one, co-written by and featuring another L.A. musician, Todd McHatton, has more of a mellow chamber-pop feel and is capped by Alisha Gaddis expressing wonder at the top of the titular stairs and seeing all of Los Angeles spread out before her. Lest the album get too ponderous, that's followed up by the summer anthem "Paletero Man" and the silliness of "Traffic," both of whom feature yet another well-known SoCal kindie act, Andrew and Polly. Other highlights include Lucky's NorCal friend Frances England on "Echo Park," the guitar showcase on "Pato Loco," and the rave-up album closer "Fiesta De La Brea," which needs to be used by the La Brea Tar Pits for promotional purposes, like, yesterday.

If you haven't gathered by now, much like how movies might be the vision of a single person but require a cast of dozens (or thousands) to pull off, this album features a large team of Los Angeles-based musicians -- it really feels like a team effort, with each artist putting their own imprint on Diaz's guitar pop. This isn't an album celebrating the city in name only -- with maybe only the exception of "Jelly," all of the songs on the 36-minute album provide a different angle on life in Los Angeles. (The album's probably most appropriate for kids age 5 and up.)

Made in L.A. is the best album yet from Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, based on themes Diaz has used from the start of his kindie career, but with an even sharper pop sensibility and a very specific sense of place. Filled with dreamy songs and humorous takes on life in Los Angeles, with pop hook upon pop hook, it's a celebration of a particular city that's got a universal appeal. One of my favorite albums of the year and highly recommended. Thanks, dreamers.

Top Kids and Family Podcasts (July 2017)

It's been a month since the last time I looked at ranking podcasts for kids, and the increased visibility of such podcasts, if not increasing, has maintained its momentum. (For those of you interested, here is June's list of top-ranked kids and family podcasts.) If you're looking for a podcast for kids, you could of course look at my list of podcasts for kids (now above 100!), but if that's a bit overwhelming, try the podcasts listed below. Popularity isn't always synonymous with quality, but you could do much worse than dipping into the shows ranked below to start out.

In terms of big developments on the content side, I'm going to go with the debut of In Sight Junior, a kid-friendly spinoff of the popular In Sight podcast. For those of you wondering when the burgeoning true crime genre would come to kids podcasting, the answer is "July." (Note: it's not so much true crime as it is mysteries and legends. Really, I've listened -- totally fine for listeners age 8 or so on up.)

July's list is ever-so-slightly smaller than June's record-busting list -- there are 18 ranked shows below, as opposed to 19 in June. (That means 18 shows that appeared in the top 100 of both the iTunes and Stitcher "kids and family" charts.) The total number of podcasts listed below is 35, tied with June. A total of 3 podcasts below hit the overall iTunes Top 200 (down from 4 in July), while in the Top 200 Kids & Family chart on iTunes, the total there (39) fell short of June by 3 shows. The Stitcher total of 27 is a new record, however.

As always: this is a blunt instrument, combining pure rankings from two fairly opaque charts, and for a variety of reasons has only marginal value as a measure of quality. (Results compiled from Top 100 podcasts on United States iTunes and Stitcher "kids and family" charts on Thursday, July 27, 2017. Podcasts that appear on both charts are listed with numbers; remaining podcasts only appeared on one list. Of special note: Dream Big appeared on iTunes' overall Top 200, but not at all on Stitcher's family list, so for that podcast at least, this list certainly underplays its popularity.) Anyway: grain of salt noted.

Two other reminders:

1. If you're looking for a list that has most (or all) of these podcasts, check out my comprehensive list of podcasts for kids.

2. If you're interested in the future of podcasts for kids, you might be interested in Kids Listen, a grassroots organization of podcasters and folks like me interested in helping high-quality audio for children thrive. We're looking for other interested folks -- producers or otherwise -- to join in!

With that out of the way, let's get to the chart.

1. Wow in the World

2. Stories Podcast

3. Brains On!

4. Storynory

5. (tie) The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

5. (tie) The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian

7. Story Pirates

8. Tumble

9. Story Time

10 . Eleanor Amplified

11. Peace Out

12. Ear Snacks

13. Little Stories for Tiny People

14. What If World

15. But Why?

16. Short and Curly

17. Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child

18. The Cramazingly Incredifun Sugarcrash Kids

Others (listed alphabetically): Activated Stories, Bedtime Stories, Biddy the Duck's Bedtime Stories, Book Club for Kids, Children's Fun Storytime Podcast, Circle Round, Disney Story Central, Dream Big, Family Folk Tales, Goop Tales Stories, In Sight Junior, Official Adventures in Odyssey, Road Trip Radio, The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd, Saturday Morning Theatre, Sparkle Stories, The Story Home

Video: "Hot Nights" - Gustafer Yellowgold

Yay for new Gustafer! That's right, our favorite animated friend from the sun is back. September 8 sees the release of Brighter Side, the eighth Gustafer Yellowgold release from Morgan Taylor. The album promises a look at both Gustafer's childhood on the sun along with more peeks into his current life in Minnesota.

"Hot Nights" is a funny take on really hot evenings featuring a melody and production that would slide right into '70s AM radio. Speaking as a resident of desert Arizona, I can relate to the subject matter. Speaking as someone who's listened to a bit of '70s AM radio, I can relate to that as well.

Anyway, enjoy this video, because unlike the other seven Gustafer releases, this new album is a music-only release and so there won't be a video for every song. (I am very pleased, however, to see that there will be a video for "Baconstein," a sequel to one of the all-time great Gustafer songs "Cakenstein," along with at least one other.)

Welcome back, Gustafer!

Gustafer Yellowgold - "Hot Nights" [YouTube]