Review: Sing As We Go! - Charlie Hope

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Singer-songwriting Charlie Hope has a bright, clear voice that appeals to many ears.  In attitude, temperament, and vocal quality, I've previously compared her to Raffi, and I think the analogy still holds.

On her recent release, Sing As We Go!, Hope continues with the formula that has won her fans on both sides of the Canadian-United States border.  Take a batch traditional songs, mix in a handful of poppy folk originals, add a dash of kindie royalty, and stir.  Hope's voice and producer Dean Jones' unfussy musical choices give a fresh spin to the traditionals.  A simple touch like the toy piano on the old camp chestnut "I Love the Mountains" helps give the song new life to the adult listener who may have heard the song more times than they probably should.  While some of the titles like "When the Ice Worm Nests Again" and "Little Rooster" might not sound familiar, the melodies probably will, with Hope occasionally writing some new lyrics for the songs.

The originals here are lovely -- from the lost '70s AM-radio tune "With You" (co-written and performed by Hope and Gustafer Yellowgold's Morgan Taylor) to Jones' "Harmony" (a duet between Hope and Elizabeth Mitchell) and Hope's own gentle ode to the parent-child bond "From You" -- and feel just as timeless as the actual classics they're next to.  (And speaking of kindie royalty, Molly Ledford, Randy Kaplan, and Chris Ballew aka Caspar Babypants also appear on the album.)

The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7.  You can listen to extended clips from each song on the album here.  Also, I happen to find the album art here particularly delightful, an artful mix of hand-drawn, computer-drawn, and knitted illustration from Zooglobble favorite Charlotte Blacker.

I first listened to this album months ago, set it aside as real life took over, and when I came back to it recently in preparation for writing this review, I was struck by just how delightful this is.  It's traditional but not musty, sweet but not cloying, engaging but not pandering.  It's a gem of an album, definitely worthy of a comparison to Raffi.  Highly recommended.

Radio Playlist: New Music June 2014

As I noted last month (you can see the May playlist here), summer is a crowded time for album releases, so there's a ton of stuff to listen to.

As always, it's 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 go right here if you're in Spotify.

**** New Music June 2014 (June 2014 Kindie Playlist) ****

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could – Just Say Hi!
The Jolly Pops – Chicken Nuggets
The Good Ms. Padgett – Hey There Little Insect
Mister G – The Bossy E
Bari Koral – Roller Coaster
Don Jordan and the Nutshell Playhouse Band – We're Here
Riff Rockit – Perlitas Blancas
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – Imaginary Friend
Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights – Good Egg
Hullabaloo – Like a Bird Must Feel
Recess Monkey – Batteries Not Included
Edie Carey and Sarah Sample – North Star
Randy Kaplan – Not Too Young for a Song

Weekly Summary (4/28/14 - 5/4/14)

How I Got Here: Randy Kaplan (Harry Chapin)

In my "How I Got Here" series, in which kindie artists talk about albums that influenced them as musicians, the musicians usually limit themselves to one or maybe two albums, but Randy Kaplan's admiration for Harry Chapin cannot be contained to a mere album or two.

In his essay below, Kaplan talks about Chapin's influence, from individual songs to individual meetings with the man himself.  Fans of Kaplan will definitely recognize the seeds of Kaplan's own performing style in what he remembers about Chapin's.

Kaplan's next family album, Jam on Rye, is released on June 1.

I was lucky to be given carte blanche over the many records and record players in my house growing up way out on that long, Long Island. There were my mother's 45s of Elvis Presley, The Platters, and Nervous Norvus; my father's LPs of Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and The Beatles; and my great-grandfather's 78s of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. I could barely lift those multi-record symphony folders with my great-grandfather's Yiddish scrawled on the covers but I was able to memorize every Elvis song in the stack, A-sides and B-sides. Nervous Norvus was my first exposure to the novelty song and I took to the genre right off the bat. I listened to Mitch Miller, Pete Seeger, and the triple-LP Woodstock soundtrack too. But the biggest musical influence of my childhood was our hometown hero, Harry Chapin.

Harry was famous for his lengthy story songs. Sure, a lot of them are a bit corny, but Harry can pull off corny better than anyone. His music and lyrics are elaborate and complex and diverse and poetic and bittersweet. And sometimes very, very funny. I'm thinking of songs like "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" and "Six String Orchestra." And Harry and his bass player "Big" John Wallace were a veritable comedy team onstage when they wanted to be. I learned a lot about interacting with audiences of all ages from watching Harry live in concert.

My family and some other families in the neighborhood went to see Harry every time he performed in the vicinity. After every show he would mingle with and talk to his fans and offer to sign our record albums and posters. I once wrote to him just to say hello and to ask him when he'd be performing again. He sent a fairly long personal note back to me, which I hung on my corkboard (it didn't come down for decades). I remember one line in particular: "My next gig will be on December 3rd." That was the first time I'd ever encountered the word "gig." I've heard it and said it a million times since then!

My friend Nadine wrote a letter to Harry with a little bit more of an agenda. She asked him to come play a few songs at our elementary school. He obliged. My mother pulled some strings, got me backstage, and told Harry that I played guitar too. He shook my hand, flashed a smile, and told me to keep practicing. He then proceeded to do an entire show, unplugged, for the whole school. He even called Nadine up to the stage to sit next to him on the piano bench as he sang "Tangled Up Puppet."

Harry was generous, humble, charismatic, and accessible. My mother once ordered his book of poetry and lyrics, Looking...Seeing, but it never arrived in the mail. She said she was going to call Harry personally and tell him. My father made fun of her, laughing, "You think he's just listed in the phone book like a normal person?!" Well, he was listed. And when my mom called him, he answered the phone! She told him about the problem and he sent over an autographed copy of the book right away.

Now that I have a son and a family of my own, I try to keep the caveats of Harry's only #1 song, the mawkish yet magic "Cat's in the Cradle," in mind, caveats about what could happen if you don't spend enough quality time with your family. I don't travel anywhere near as much as Harry did (he was on the go non-stop!) but as a musician I have to be on the road at least sometimes. So whenever possible, my wife and son travel with me. And when they can't, there's Skype and FaceTime, so that helps.

After all this time, I'm still inspired by Harry's talent, generosity, enthusiasm, and great recordings (my favorites are Verities & Balderdash, Portrait Gallery, and Greatest Stories Live). I'm certainly glad to carry the mantle of the lengthy story song to the children and family music genre. Yes, I've rationalized more than a few indulgent song lengths by reminding myself of Harry's epic numbers!

Harry told me to keep practicing. And I did. That's how I got here.

Photo of Harry Chapin by Steve Stout from Harry Chapin.com

Kindie-Chartin': Kids Place Live's Top 13 Songs of 2012

One of my ongoing interests has been attempting to quantify the popularity of kids music, and I do that every week on my Kindie Week in Review show.  When it comes to kids music albums, the wide variety of charts I consider -- Billboard, iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby -- gives a decent overview.  No chart is perfect, but the variety does give some sense of relative popularity among broad range of audiences, from those who have never heard of the word "kindie" to schools and libraries, to folks like you or me.

When it comes to individual kids music songs, however, the charts do a poorer job.  The iTunes and Amazon singles charts are populated primarily with Kidz Bop renditions, songs from Disney animated movies released 20 years ago, novelty songs, and songs Amazon couldn't figure out where to place.  The only chart that does a decent job of actually charting kids songs, particularly kindie songs, on a national basis, is Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live's "13 Under 13" countdown.  It's a weekly look at the most popular songs on the satellite radio station.  And while the folks at KPL have described the chart as much as art as quantifiable fact, the chart does have a decent relationship to what is actually being played on the station.

I've finally had a chance to compile the data from songs that hit the charts in 2012.  Most of the delay is my fault (I'm already planning the 2013 chart and will be much more timely with that one), but some of the delay is due to the structure of this analysis -- it looks at every song that hit the 13U13 chart in 2012 (there were 50 in all), and sometimes those songs that entered in December 2012 didn't exit until March 2013.  A couple of the songs from the 2011 list of top Kids Place Live songs -- Keller Williams' "Mama Tooted" and Todd McHatton's "I Think I'm a Bunny" -- were charting on the KPL list all the way into June 2012.

This analysis would not be possible without the weekly work of Gwyneth Butera at the Kids Place Live Fans site, so thanks, Gwyneth!

My methodology is pretty simple -- I give each song on each chart points for their ranking, 13 for #1, 12 for #2, and so on down to 1 point for being at #13.  Obviously I could use other methods and weightings, but since the chart itself is not 100% based on plays, I think this is accurate enough.  What it does is make clear which songs were particularly popular.  As it so happens, there was a nice demarcation point between the top 13 songs and the rest of the batch.  So here, then, are the top 13 kids music songs of 2012.

#1: The Board of Education - "Why Is Dad So Mad?": While much of this chart will be presented in clumps of songs because the methodology is crude and it's not worth distinguishing between songs who might have differed by 1 or 2 points in total, it was clear was this Star Wars fandom-related riff by the Seattle band was the most popular kindie song of the year.

#s 2 through 4 (alphabetical):

  • Afro Circus (from Madagascar): "Afro Circus"
  • OzoKidz (aka Ozomatli): "Moose on the Loose"
  • Recess Monkey: "Dancing Bear"

#s 5 through 9 (alphabetical):

  • Randy Kaplan: "Don't Fill Up on Chips"
  • Randy Kaplan: "In a Timeout Now"
  • The Okee Dokee Brothers: "Can You Canoe?"
  • SteveSongs: "Flat Stanley"
  • Wunmi: "Rainbow"

#s 10 through 13 (alphabetical):

  • The Aquabats: "Poppin' a Wheelie"
  • Brave (i.e., from Brave): "Learn Me Right"
  • Lunch Money: "Spicy Kid"
  • Shine and the Moonbeams: "High Five"

Finally, listed alphabetically below are the top10  artists of 2012 on Kids Place Live as judged by total points, which could reflect a single massive hit or a couple good ones.  This is an even more imprecise measure -- some artists spend half their year on the charts with two or even three mid-range hits, not to mention the perennial favorites that get played once or twice a day -- but do provide some additional context.

  • The Board of Education
  • The Brave soundtrack
  • Caspar Babypants
  • Dog on Fleas
  • Randy Kaplan
  • Lunch Money
  • The Madagascar soundtrack
  • The Okee Dokee Brothers
  • OzoKidz (aka Ozomatli)
  • Recess Monkey

Weekly Summary (12/2/13 - 12/8/13)