Please Release Me: August 2010 Edition

Updating last month's list of upcoming releases once more... Matt Clark: Funnier Little Fella (Aug. 28) Secret Agent 23 Skidoo: Underground Playground (Aug. 31) Meredith LeVande: What Are the Odds? (Aug. 31) Bill Harley: The Best Candy in the Whole World (Sept. 14) "Doc" Dauer and others: The Body Rocks! (Sept. 14) Oran Etkin: Wake Up Clarinet (Sept. 14) The Squeegees: Meet the Squeegees (Sept. 21, Target exclusive) The Boogers: Title TBA (fall) Jeremy Zmuda: Title TBA (fall) Laurie Berkner: Let’s Hear it for The Laurie Berkner Band! DVD (Sept. 28) Elizabeth Mitchell: Sunny Day (Oct. 5) Jim Cosgrove: Swimming in Noodles (Oct. 5) Maria Muldaur: Barnyard Dance: Jug Band Music for Kids (Oct. 12) Flannery Brothers: The New Explorers Club (Oct. 19) Keller Williams: Kids (Oct. 26) Caspar Babypants: This Is Fun! (Nov. 2) Buckwheat Zydeco: Buckwheat Zydeco's Bayou Boogie (Nov. 2) Frances England: Mind of My Own (Nov. 9) Jamie Broza: I Want a Dog (Nov. 23) David Weinstone: Title TBA (November) Didi Pop: Didi Pop Goes to Hawaii (Dec. 1) Meredith LeVande: Monkey Monkey Music: The Videos with Meredith LeVande (DVD, Dec. 1) Gustafer Yellowgold: Gustafer Yellowgold's Infinity Sock (Feb. 22, 2011) Others working on albums with potential 2010 releases? Lunch Money (Original Friend), Ella Jenkins, Big Don

Mind of My Own: Frances England Gets Some Help

MindOfMyOwn.JPGIronically for an album called Mind of My Own, Frances England has pulled together a lot of musical talent to help her make her third kindie rock record. (It's true, her Kindiefest appearance was not a one-off, it's a much more rocking record than her first two.) She's got a full band behind her and Tor Hyams produced the record. Not to mention a whole host of guest musicians, including Doug Snyder from the Jellydots, make an appearance. And, yes, the rumors are true -- Mates of State make an appearance on "Place in Your Heart," with a joyful singalong chorus that's bound to make a lot of family music radio playlists. Luckily, England's handiwork hasn't change from her first, very DIY affair -- its still her papercut artwork gracing the cover. Anyway, Mind of My Own is out November 9th. The tracklist is after the jump.

Keller Williams' Kids Album Is For the, er, Kids

Kids.jpgNearly two years ago, I noted that jamband musician extraordinaire Keller Williams was joining the crowd of adult artists recording a family music album. And in my subsequent inquiries to Williams' folks, I'd hear that the album was finished, just not ready for release. Now comes word that the album is finally ready for the world. On October 26, Williams will release Kids, his first foray into music for families. Call it peanut-butter-and-jam-band music. (That one's for free, folks.) See the cover there? It'd be way too cute if it weren't a nifty little joke. Immediately shoots to near the top of my most-anticipated albums list.

Elizabeth Mitchell's Sunny Day Tracklisting. Just Because I Want To.

SunnyDay.jpgYeah, I know, I already mentioned the video and mp3 for "Oh, John the Rabbit" by Elizabeth Mitchell with an assist from Daniel and Storey Littleton. And that Mitchell's new album Sunny Day is coming out on Oct. 5 on the venerable Smithsonian Folkways label. And that posting track listings is one of the laziest music-site-writer's tricks in the book. So what. 1. Sunny Day (written by Storey Littleton) 2. Shoo Lie Loo 3. Mr. Rabbit [yay! another rabbit tune!] 4. Ooki Na Kuri No Ki No Shita De (Under the Big Chestnut Tree) 5. Keep on the Sunny Side (with Levon Helm, Amy Helm, Larry Campbell, and Teresa Williams) 6. Lovely Day 7. Reggae in the Fields 8. Ong Tal Sam (Little Spring) 9. Tell It Again 10. Green, Green Rocky Road (with Dan Zanes) 11. School Days (with Levon Helm and Chris Wood) 12. Mystery Train (with Levon Helm) 13. Oh, John the Rabbit 14. David’s Mandolin 15. This Little Light of Mine (with the Children of Agape Choir) 16. Fairy Tale Lullaby 17. Elephants All Over the World (again, by Storey Littleton) 18. Little Buckaroo (with Jon Langford) 19. Tsuki (Moon)

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo Recycles a "Road Trip"

RoadTrip.jpgSo remember that Egg / Secret Agent 23 Skidoo collaboration "Look Both Ways"? Well, that's not the only thing that came out of this most recent collaboration. The leadoff track on the upcoming Skidoo disk Underground Playground is "Road Trip" and it was born out of "Look Both Ways." Skidoo came up with the idea for "Look Both Ways," Jeff Fuller and Egg wrote and recorded it. After Skidoo recorded his vocal take for the Egg song, Fuller sent him the separate studio files. Skidoo says he "grabbed the guitar and bass lines, chopped 'em up on my drum machine, and built a whole new song around them, thus resulting in this song... So 2 songs were born, with the thematic overlap that they're both sort of about roads, which was coincidental." Anyway, if you want to download the song (which is a fun, ever-so-slightly mellow ska-tinged tune) in time for your own summer road trip prior to its Aug. 31st release date, grab it at iTunes here. (And I plan to play it on my Live365 station later this week.) Just as with the Coal Train Railroad / Readeez collaboration I mentioned earlier, it's this long-term trading of ideas and songs and appearances that will, in the long run, give the sense to the public at large that this is a genre, not a fad. Children's book authors and illustrators trade off and collaborate all the time -- why shouldn't family musicians? Track listing for the album after the jump...

Please Release Me: July 2010 Edition

An update of last month's list of upcoming family music releases... The Not-Its: Time Out To Rock (July 20) Pete Seeger: Tomorrow's Children (July 27) Dream Jam Band: Leave It In The Soup (July 27 digital/Aug. 10 physical) The Okee Dokee Brothers: Take It Outside (Aug. 3) Various Artists: Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti (Aug. 10) "Doc" Dauer and others: The Body Rocks! (Aug. 17) David Tobocman: Lemonade School (mid-August) Matt Clark: Funnier Little Fella (Aug. 28) Secret Agent 23 Skidoo: Underground Playground (Aug. 31) Meredith LeVande: What Are the Odds? (Aug. 31) Billy Kelly: Is This Some Kind of Joke? (late summer) Bill Harley: The Best Candy in the Whole World (Sept. 14) Oran Etkin: Wake Up Clarinet (fall) The Boogers: Title TBA (fall) Jeremy Zmuda: Title TBA (fall) Laurie Berkner: Let’s Hear it for The Laurie Berkner Band! DVD (Sept. 28) Elizabeth Mitchell: Sunny Day (Oct. 5) Jim Cosgrove: Swimming in Noodles (Oct. 5) Maria Muldaur: Barnyard Dance: Jug Band Music for Kids (Oct. 12) Flannery Brothers The New Explorers Club (Oct. 19) Caspar Babypants: This Is Fun! (Nov. 2) Buckwheat Zydeco: Buckwheat Zydeco's Bayou Boogie (Nov. 2) Frances England: Mind of My Own (Nov. 9) Jamie Broza: I Want a Dog (Nov. 23) David Weinstone: Title TBA (November) Gustafer Yellowgold: Gustafer Yellowgold's Infinity Sock (Feb. 22, 2011) Others working on albums with potential 2010 releases? Lunch Money (Original Friend), Ella Jenkins, Big Don