"I Like" - Lard Dog & The Band of Shy

Artist: Lard Dog & The Band of Shy

Song: "I Like"

Album: N/A

Description: It's a brand new song from New York City's purveyors of affirmative oddity, this time celebrating what people like!  I suspect you know someone who will like this song, free for the price of an e-mail address this month.

Source: Lard Dog website

"My Mom" - Danny Weinkauf

My Mom - single cover

My Mom - single cover

Artist: Danny Weinkauf

Song: "My Mom"

Album: N/A

Description: If there was a Broadway musical about moms targeted at your favorite 6-year-old, then this would be the soft-shoe dance number midway through the first act.  Tina Kenny, who plays bass in Weinkauf's Red Pants Band, duets with Weinkauf.  Adorbs.

Source: Bandcamp

"You Are Loved" - Hullabaloo

Artist: Hullabaloo

Song: "You Are Loved"

Album: N/A

Description: Not sure it's possible to release a much simpler song -- one voice, one guitar, one minute, and a couple dozen different words at most.  All to convey a simple and powerful message, "You Are Loved."  It's possible to sing this concept and have it sound trite.  To my ears, that isn't the case at all with this track.

Source: Bandcamp

"Jelly Beans!" - Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips

Artist: Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips

Song: "Jelly Beans!"

Album: N/A (upcoming release)

Description: Featuring a sugar-infused electro-blues (again, MCJ is kindie's hyphenate king) amped to 11, lyrical delivery from 14-year-old Ava Flava (with an assist from Mista Cookie Jar), this ode to the sugar- (or corn syrup-)filled candy winds up and up until it crashes at the very end.  The free download crashes (i.e., ends) just about the time your kids will crash after eating their Easter candy (i.e., sometime Easter Sunday).

Source: Bandcamp

"Favorite Cousin" - The Pop Ups

Artist: The Pop Ups

Song: "Favorite Cousin"

Album: N/A

Description: I'll have a separate post on Christmas and holiday music in a few days, but didn't want the free nature of this track to go unnoticed any longer than it had to.  Yes, it's nominally about Christmastime and Hanukkah-time, but really it's about jamming with your favorite-but-not-often-seen family member.

Source: Soundcloud

Fire Prevention Songs - SteveSongs and Recess Monkey

Artists: SteveSongs / Recess Monkey

Songs: "Little Rosalie" and "What's That Sound?"

Album: N/A

Description: The National Fire Protection Association's kid-friendly site Sparky Schoolhouse recruited SteveSongs and Recess Monkey to write, record, and film music videos promoting fire safety techniques. TL;DR - have a fire alarm and a fire safety plan.  But TL;DR doesn't work as well with kids, so I'd stick with the free downloads of Steve's "Little Rosalie" and five (5!) different versions of Recess Monkey's "What's That Sound?" (plus you can see the videos, too).

Source: Sparky Schoolhouse website

Four Free Book-Related Songs - Caspar Babypants

OldManhattanHasSomeFarms.jpg

Artist: Caspar Babypants

Album: N/A

Description: Chris Ballew aka Caspar Babypants is already super-productive, turning out album after album, but even beyond his stellar full-length stuff (Rise and Shine, out September 16!), he occasionally does some one-off stuff.  He's done 3 songs for books he's written with his wife Kate Endle, and his latest, "Old Manhattan" is for a new book written by Susan Lendroth and illustrated by Endle.  Just like all of Ballew's Caspar Babypants work, it takes an old song and rejiggers it for the 21st century.  Best of all (for you), you can download all 4 of these book-based tracks for free.

Source: CB's Songs for Books page

"Shakin' Up the Pollen" - ScribbleMonster

ArtistScribbleMonster

Song:  "Shakin' Up the Pollen"

Album: N/A

Description:  It's an educational song about the plight of bees that turns "Flight of the Bumblebee".... wait, where are you going?  This song rocks, really!  Great for kindergartners...

Source: ScribbleMonster's website