Summer Road Trip Playlist!

Beth Blenz-Clucas, proprietor of Sugar Mountain PR, has, for a number of years, compiled a summer road trip playlist featuring tracks from her clients. This summer is no different, and there's a bunch of new and excellent tracks for your listening pleasure, including music from as-yet-unreleased albums from Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, Danny Weinkauf, and Jazzy Ash, whose album Swing Set comes out July 21. That's the very playful cover art over there. (There's also music from artists like Lisa Loeb, Justin Roberts, and more. Peep the list below.)

And while there's nothing definitively "road-trip-y" about the set (only Jazzy Ash's "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" and Weinkauf's "Transportation") specifically suggest travel, it's an entertaining set nonetheless. For the next week you can download it for free, but you can listen to it all summer.

The Best of Kids Podcasts from March 2017

I'm a big fan of podcasts, but I'm hardly the only one to note how difficult discovery is with podcasts. Sure, I've got a comprehensive list of podcasts for kids, a regular review of the top-ranked kids podcasts, and participate in Kids Listen, a group created to support and advocate on behalf of kids podcasts, but with all that it can still be a little hard to jump in.

On top of all that, music has it pretty easy, comparatively speaking -- I can embed YouTube and Vimeo videos, or stream from Soundcloud or Bandcamp, not to mention make Spotify playlists.

So I'm starting something new I hope might change that just a little bit. I'm going to start a monthly list of podcast episodes, and publish them via an app called RadioPublic. It's an iOS and Android app that lets you download and listen to podcasts, but also features recommendations, both from RadioPublic employees and guest curators, but also listeners like you. And me. So download the app, search for "The Latest Podcasts for Kids and Families," and you'll be notified every time I update this list, which should be monthly.

As for the list itself, a few caveats -- first, while RadioPublic is open-source, and it's pretty easy for podcasts to make the list, if RadioPublic hasn't selected it, or a podcast producer hasn't submitted it, it can't be heard. Most of the podcasts I would've recommended were there, but there were at least a couple I'd've been interested in featuring which weren't available via the app. Second, I'm planning on limiting these lists to ten episodes, mostly because as a recommendation feature, I find long lists not optimally helpful. Obviously, this means that I'm likely to omit some fun episodes each month (and also means I'm limiting myself to one episode per podcast).

My goal with this regularly updating list to get a broad range of types of shows and episodes featured over time. If your favorite show is missing, let me know! There's a good chance I'm already familiar with it and couldn't squeeze it in, but maybe you've got an entirely new podcast to share, and I'm all ears for those, too.

With all that said, let's get to the best of kids podcasts from March 2017! (Use this link to listen from the RadioPublic website.)

(In no particular order)

"The Wind and the Sun" - Stories Podcast: I'm Team Sun, of course.

"49: Ronald Reagan and the Pineapple Paradise" - Story Pirates: Presidential Fan Fiction should be a holiday every year.

"#12 - BFG" - Buttons & Figs: All about the BFG!

"Marlow's Metamorphosis" - Storynory: Hearing the human Marlow act like a dog while Astropup gets to make human-like asides. Win!

"S2E8: The Iceboy Cometh" - The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian: Back with the main storyline of the kids from the Explorer Troop. Very strong LOTR vibe to this one...

"The ups and downs of elevators" - Brains On!: All about elevators, including the crazy one in the Brains On! offices.

"Part One: The Welcome Wall from the 'The Violet Crown (How to Be Super, Book 1)' Original Audio Story Series" - Sparkle Stories: The start of a new story series - an adventure set in modern-day Austin, Texas that sounds perfect for fans of Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

"The Case of the Whale Shark Party with Rafael de la Parra" - Tumble: I think they should name the whale shark Stefan.

"How Do Piano Keys Make Sound" - But Why: It's a But Why episode about music -- of course I'm going to include it!

"08.1 - On the Road - Part 1" - Shabam!: Mixes the overarching story -- kids on the run from a zombie-like outbreak -- with the history of transportation of all types.

Songs for Groundhog Day

Exactly a decade ago, I published a list of songs for Groundhog Day. "List" is a little overstating things -- it was exactly three songs long.

But now I've expanded the list by more than 100%! It's now seven songs long. [Ed.: With a few suggestions below and on social media, we're up to double-digits!] Which, to be frank, is probably reasonable for the relatively minor holiday that is Groundhog Day. But there's some good stuff here. Unfortunately my very favorite groundhog-themed song, "I Hog the Ground," isn't available on Spotify, but the other six tracks are.

If you've got further suggestions, let me know in the comments. But do it quick before Punxsutawney Phil is called upon!

"I Hog the Ground (Groundhog Song)" - Steve Burns / Steven Drozd (watch here)

"Oh Groundhog" - Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell

"Groundhog" - Red Yarn

"Shadow" - Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

"The Groundhog Song (How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck?)" - Daria

"How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck?" - Danny Adlerman and Friends

"Groundhog" - Sam Hinton

"A Shadow" - Gustafer Yellowgold

"The Groundhog's Lament" - Mr. Richard and the Pound Hounds

"Groundhog Day" - John McCutcheon

"Staten Island Chuck" - The Rock-A-Silly Band

Radio Playlist: New Music January 2017

Hoo boy, it has been awhile since I've done one of these. (October 2016, to be exact.) But skip the holiday music, and there's still some stuff to listen to, to get your 2017 off to a good start if it hasn't already.

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 right here in you're in Spotify).

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

"Dreamland" - Mo Phillips

"Let's Dance" - Antibalas

"Being Different" - Karen K

"Back Seat Bop" - Katie Ha Ha Ha

"Lily 'o' Lily" - Nick Cope

"Find a Way" - Stacey Peasley

"Top Secret Personal Beeswax" - Junie B. Jones Musical Cast Album

"Elephant" - Priscilla Ahn

Songs for Thanksgiving (Updated)

About five years ago, I compiled a list of songs for Thanksgiving that brought together a bunch of kids music themed for Thanksgiving either overtly or somewhat more subtly (i.e., songs about gratitude).

It's time for an update. I've included some stream/video links, along with a Spotify playlist for those songs on the service.

And if I've missed one, please let me know in the comments or via e-mail and we'll add it in.

Laurie Berkner - "(I'm Gonna Eat on) Thanksgiving Day" (as close to a kindie Thanksgiving Day anthem as we have)

John McCutcheon - "Thanksgiving Day"

Charity and the JAMband - "Thank You" (close enough, right?, and you can still download it for free or pay what you like)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - "Thank You" (this one's much more Thanksgiving-related)

Brian Vogan and his Good Buddies - "Last Thanksgiving"

Todd McHatton - "Happy Vegan Thanksgiving Song" (listen here)

Bill Harley - "Enough is a Feast" [parents: see note below]

Bill Harley - "Thanksgiving Prayer"

Kindiependent - "Kids' Table"

Jim "Mr. Stinky Feet" Cosgrove - "Gobble Across the USA"

The Harmonica Pocket - "Give Thanks"

Dre Towey - "Turkey Bop"

Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights - "The Tofurkey Song"

Spencer the Gardener - "The Gobble Song"

Kurt Gallagher - "Tommy Turkey" (watch here)

Shine and the Moonbeams - "Soul Food Holiday"

Renee and Friends - "Gather Round"

Aaron Nigel Smith and the One World Chorus feat. Dan Zanes - "Grateful"

Mista Cookie Jar - "Gratitude" [stream]

José-Luis Orozco - "Thanksgiving"

Rocknoceros - "This Thanksgiving"

Justin Roberts - "How Lucky We Are"

Gustafer Yellowgold - "Pumpkin Pied"

Miss Nina - "Grateful" [YouTube]

Kids' Songs About Emotions

While I generally shy away from songs and kids music that explicitly teach subjects in a didactic way, that doesn't mean that a) non-didactic songs don't teach the listener, and b) you can't create a very catchy song that also happens to be educational.

There are lots of songs that take history as their subject, and there are any number of math, non-English language, science, and standard school or preschool life skill subjects in song. Emotional literacy, however, is a trickier subject, as the songwriter isn't so much covering facts as she or he is trying to write a song explaining the very emotions songs usually generate. It's a meta idea... for 4- or 7-year-olds.

Back in 2008, I said that there really hadn't been much if any non-didactic kids music about emotions written, and that there was a niche waiting to be filled. Luckily, I think that niche has been filled, at least a little bit -- there are now a number of tracks that I think could serve as tuneful introductions for a young audience to what emotions are.

I've provided a list below, but if you've got more to add, list them in the comments! (Note that the list generally tries to limit itself to songs about emotion, rather than including songs that deal with emotion in passing. Such a list would be much, much longer.)

“It’s Alright to Cry” - Rosie Grier (among many others) [stream]

"Cry Cry Cry” - Ziggy Marley (feat. Jack Johnson & Paula Fuga) [stream]

“Joy Comes Back” - Alastair Moock [stream]

“Furry Happy Monsters” - R.E.M. [video]

“Sad” - Big Block Singsong [video]

“Brave” - Big Block Singsong [video]

“Happy” - Big Block Singsong [video]

"Mad" - Big Block Singsong [video]

“Mama Is Sad” - Justin Roberts [stream]

“Happy Sad Silly Mad” - Jeremy Plays Guitar [video]

“Sad Robot” - The Jellydots [stream]

“Are You Happy?” - Alison Faith Levy [stream]

“If You’re Happy and You Know It..." - Raffi (and many many others) [stream]

"In All of the World" - Papa Crow [stream]

"Alright, Okay, Just Fine" - Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang [Spotify]

"Feel What U Feel" - Lisa Loeb feat. Craig Robinson [Amazon]

"Feelings Change" - The Pop Ups [stream]