Monday Morning Smile: "I Believe in Little Things" - Diana Panton

I Believe in Little Things cover

I Believe in Little Things cover

What was it I said last week?  "More joy."  Well, Joe Raposo makes just about everything more joyful.

Canadian jazz musician Diana Panton turned to Raposo for the title track to her kid-friendly album I Believe in Little Things.  The album was originally released in September 2015, but is going to get a bigger push here south of the Canadian border in 2016, and with tracks like the title track, I think it'll be well-received in the kindie world.

The video for "I Believe in Little Things" is charming and whimsical, and Panton's warm and clear voice elegantly lays out Raposo's masterful lyrics, with Jacqui Lee's illustration a perfect fit.  Definitely an album to look forward to (or hear now, if you don't want to wait).

Diana Panton - "I Believe in Little Things" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: The Ultimate "Sing" Post (feat. Laura Doherty)

My kids have been singing "Sing," the classic Joe Raposo song written for the first season of Sesame Street in 1970, for a few weeks now. It's because they've had Laura Doherty's fine album Shining Like a Star (CD Baby | iTunes) on rotation in the minivan. Which made me think that I should totally do a "Monday Morning Smile" on the song. Because while it's ostensibly (and originally) a "kids' song," it clearly has entered the American songbook as a song appropriate for all ages. ShiningLikeAStar.jpgAnd then it occurred to me, maybe I can get Laura's version in this post -- a version I really like and which I would've put into my "Top 25 Songs" list if I didn't think it wasn't a little unfair to put such a classic song in there. Luckily, she agreed to let me feature it here. So let's kick off this post with an exclusive, limited-time-only stream of "Sing" from Laura's Shining Like a Star album. [Ed.: I told you, limited-time-only.]