"Colour of Leaves" - The Moonlights

Artist: The Moonlights

Song: "Colour of Leaves"

AlbumThe Moonlights

Description: I know.  What in the world am I doing posting a song titled "Colour of Leaves" in mid-March -- presumably it's all about fall colors, right?  Nope!  Well, maybe it is, but there are lyrics celebrating the sun, tiny bugs, moss, and, yes, SPRING!  As a video, this is pretty boring -- Moonlights Dean Jones and Rachel Loshak singing and occasionally making eye contact with the camera -- but as a song, Jones and Loshak make for some wonderful harmonies.

Source: YouTube

"One Love" - 1World Chorus

Artist: Aaron Nigel Smith and the 1World Chorus

Song: "One Love"

Album: Celebrating Bob Marley

Description: If I had to think of one artist or band whose songs have so totally permeated the culture, my first thought would the Beatles.  But I'm sure that for a lot of other folks, it might be Bob Marley.  Celebrating Bob Marley isn't the first album to use Marley's songs as the basis for a kids' album, but the fact that this album is a) being released by Ziggy Marley's Tuff Gong Worldwide record label, and b) features the 1World Chorus, which is led by Aaron Nigel Smith's 1World Chorus, featuring singers from the U.S., Jamaica, Kenya, and Columbia, lends this album a level of significance that other cover albums might not.  The video for one of Marley's most famous songs, "One Love" isn't complicated -- shots of kids singing, both in concert and "behind-the-scenes," but in its picture of kids from all around the world singing the song, it does Marley's request to "let's get together" justice.

Source: YouTube

"New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" - Fox & Branch

Artist: Fox and Branch

Song: "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues"

Album: Let Us Get Together

Description: This is a simple video, but the combination of the Wisconsin duo's gentle take on George Washington Thomas, Jr.'s blues song and watching kids (and, briefly, Fox and Branch themselves) dance, well, it's a good 150 seconds of your day.

Source: YouTube

"Snow Globe (Live)" - Molly Ledford (Lunch Money)

Artist: Molly Ledford (Lunch Money)

Album: Original Friend (originally, anyway)

Description: As temperatures reach 100 degrees or more here, I'm more than happy to listen to this snow-inspired song and watch Ledford sing this in front of a wintry background.  I'm feeling a little cooler (and warmer) just watching.

Source: YouTube

"Monsters Are Better Than People" (Frozen cover) - John Beirne / Eugene

Artist: John Beirne / Eugene

Song: "Monsters Are Better Than People"

Album: N/A

Description: My ugly little secret (until now) is that I think "Let It Go" is the worst song in Frozen, Disney's latest animated movie.  I get why it's become massively popular, and it's not a bad song -- it's just that for a song about embracing yourself completely, it's actually too restrained.  I wanted to like it more.  Much more successful (in part because of their more restrained ambitions) are songs like "Reindeers Are Better Than People."  That brief whimsical ode gets a reworked cover from Yosi's friends John Beirne and Eugene.

Source: YouTube

"Chanukah O Chanukah" - Mama Doni

Artist: Mama Doni

Song: "Chanukah O Chanukah"

Album: Mama Doni's Jewish Holiday Party DVD

Description: As a non-Jew, I don't have much of a cultural background to appreciate Chanukah songs -- I am definitely not the target audience for this DVD.  I do, however, very much like the bluegrass take on one of the few traditional Jewish songs I am, in fact, familiar with shared by Mama Doni and instrumentalist Eric Lindberg.

Source: YouTube

"Banana Man" - Glen Hansard

Artist: Glen Hansard

Song: "Banana Man" 

Album: N/A

Description:  This is a video Hansard recorded for the forthcoming Adventure Sandwich TV show (yes, I was a Kickstarter backer).  Yes, it's a song about bananas.  And, of course, being Hansard, it sounds great, but it's the puppets that make it re-watchable.

Source: YouTube 

"Whistling Song" (Live) - Cat Doorman

Artist: Cat Doorman

Song: "Whistling Song"​

Album: The Cat Doorman Songbook

Description: Recorded alongside a story, and as part of a series of videos, for Oregon Public Broadcasting ​(here's "Turn Around" and "Madame Claire"), it's a very direct, simple but elegantly filmed version of the jazzy original.

Source: Vimeo