***Dean Jones***

I've been a die-hard follower of Dog On Fleas since I found Cranberry Sauce Flotilla over four years ago. Became a bigger fan after getting to see them live at the Donnell Central Children's Room when I worked there. Got to the point of obsessive stalkerism when Dean Jones released Napper's Delight in 2007. Now Jones has upped the ante on his second solo disc by getting The Felice Brothers involved, resulting in one of the best family albums of 2010.

Check out a full review of Dean Jones' Rock Paper Scissors over at About.com!

Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 8 Family Photograph by The Dreyer Family Band

Family Photograph is a remarkable collaboration between East and West Coast members of the Dreyer family, who pull together musical influences from across time and around the world to create their impressive kids' music debut, some of the best kids' music of 2009.

Number 8: Family Photograph by The Dreyer Family Band

Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 9 Beautiful World by Dog On Fleas

This week and next, we're looking at some of the best kids' music of 2009, and the ninth spot is occupied by Hudson Valley musical ensemble Dog On Fleas. Eclectic Americana at its best.

Number 9: Beautiful World by Dog On Fleas

New Americana Music for Kids

The sub-genres in Kids' Music are constantly growing and improving, including the Americana field. I've reviewed five of the best examples of new Americana music for kids over at About.com, and I have room to expand the list, so please feel free to send recommendations or make comments.

***Andy Mason***

Andy Mason's sophomore kids' album continues where Everybody Likes Pizza! left off, but with more instruments in the mix. Play It Again! is a solid collection of Americana tunes, slyly instructional songs, ridiculous sing-alongs, and eclectic covers. Everybody Like Pizza! was pretty much a solo acoustic affair, but this time around, Portales, New Mexico's favorite kids' musician utilizes jangly piano, a taste of accordion, twangy guitar, and the occasional standup bass.

Play It Again! kicks off with the honky tonk sing-along "My Cat's Got Fleas!" and the energetic tribute to swashbucklers everywhere, "The Pirate Song." Boogie woogie while you "Wash Your Hands," then follow along with the Simon Says-like "Monkey See, Monkey Do," a tune that sounds like a tinkling piano version of John Mellencamp's "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A."

Mason lets his southwestern musical influences show on the cantina canción "The Toilet Training Dance," the bilingual "Los Colores," and the Spanish-language ballad "A Mi Madre" and counting song "Los Numeros." And the country-flavored, perfect-for-Summer-Reading tune "Everybody Likes to Read" declares that ... well ... everybody likes to read!

What's interesting is Mason's choice of cover tunes: his barroom story-song version of the traditional "Hagdelina Magdelina;" his cajun-spiced version of Trout Fishing In America's great song "My Hair Had a Party Last Night," which fits in perfectly with Mason's Americana sound; his faithful cover of William Hargreaves' "Delaney's Donkey," made popular by Irish singer Val Doonican in the late '60s; and his breezy cover of The Housemartins' "Sheep," from their 1986 album London 0 Hull 4. Mason reworks the lyrics to turn "Sheep" into a song about trying to get to sleep, rather than The Housemartins' original sunny tirade against the easily-led masses.

Play It Again! ends with a live version of the crowd participation summer camp song "Bubble Gum," and the epic lullaby instrumental "Lalabye." And note that two tunes, "Kewsong," a waltzing country & western tune about Mason's daughter, and the aforementioned "A Mi Madre," were originally included on Mason's recently-released grownup album Lost Cowboy, which goes to show that the line between kids' music and grownup music is disappearing.

Andy Mason turns in a fun album of southwestern Americana tunes for the whole family!

***The Dreamtree Shakers***

Chicago's Little Miss Ann tipped us off to a kids' band with one of the best names I've heard in a while, The Dreamtree Shakers. This Windy City ensemble's debut kids' album, Dream and You Will See, is actually a soundtrack of sorts of their live puppetry and movement show, featuring characters and landscapes of the forest.

Call it poppy folk, folky pop, or indie alt country americana, Jeremy Babcock and gang lay down some righteous, jangly tunes, the kind of airy, loping rock and roll that America and Neil Young were so good at. Babcock is the go-to guy in The Dreamtree Shakers, and he and fellow Shakers Shawn Schlag and Michael Doty play in the similar-sounding grownup band Third Wheel.

With song titles like "Her Sound is Sunshine," "Dream and You Will See," and "Watching the Leaves Fall," you can see at first glance where The Dreamtree Shakers are coming from. Very cool indie pop for kids, awesome kindie rock for adults, great CD for the whole family. But first and foremost, check out The Dreamtree Shakers' live show ... then you'll see what they're all about.

New Americana Music for Kids

The sub-genres in Kids' Music are constantly growing and improving, including the Americana field. I've reviewed five of the best examples of new Americana music for kids over at About.com, and I have room to expand the list, so please feel free to send recommendations or make comments.

***Joe West***

Santa Fe, NM-based singer, songwriter, performance artist, and all-around musical experimentationalist Joe West just dropped his first CD for children, If the World was Upside Down, an album of classic country Americana flavored with a smidgen of southwestern spice. West is a highly-respected figure in the Santa Fe / Albuquerque music world, having released several CDs on the Frogville Records label.

If the World was Upside Down kicks off with the title tune, a philosophical, Johnny Paycheck-like bar room singalong, followed by the jaunty, loving tribute to "My Grandma," who has her quirks but is still our favorite person in the world. Then comes West's accordion/mandolin cover/remake of Michelle Shocked's "The Ballad of Patch Eye and Meg," from her 1986 album The Texas Campfire Tapes.

"Dump Trucks and Tractors" is a full-on hardcore honky tonk hit that oughta be blasting out of every juke box in west Texas, and the band is given a chance to stretch out instrumentally on the tune. Sounding very much like Willie Nelson, West turns in a beautiful old west song, "On the Banks of the Rio Grande," a tune destined to become a new classic (and dig the dobro solo). And the sunny "Anita Pita" tells the story of a single mom supporting herself and her teenage daughter by vacuuming art galleries.

"Veronica Rose the Flying Unicorn" is a swaying love ballad, while the gorgeous "Robots of Rayleen" tells the story of dance floor-lovin' automatons who adore the band because they have a smoke machine. And West's semi-instrumental cantina rocker "Don't Forget to Brush Your Teeth" is kinda his version of "Tequila." The album ends with the melancholy epic "Homemade Rocket to the Moon" and an instrumental version of "Patch Eye" called, appropriately, "The End."

The coolest thing about this project is that it's a real band playing real music, not some goofy grownups twiddlin' through some kiddie tune cast-offs: West's band of crack musicians from the Santa Fe area don't hold back on their performances one single bit. This stuff is intelligent, funny, and musically right on. Awesome Americana for the whole family.

***Johnny Bregar***

Yet another warm, comfy CD of country/folk/Americana from Seattleite Johnny Bregar! His first, Stomp Yer Feet!, is one of the best albums for the 2-to-6 year old set you'll ever hear, and his second, Hootenanny, features a balance of originals and traditional tunes. It would have been difficult for anyone to follow up those two solid collections, but Bregar does it with his third CD for kids, Dragonfly.

Check out the nifty artwork by Kelly Angelovic, and Bregar's can't-miss covers of John Brim's "Ice Cream Man," Guy Wood & Sammy Gallop's post-WW II hit "Shoo-Fly Pie," and Sanford Faulkner's hillbilly Vaudeville fiddle tune "Arkansas Traveller." Other highlights include the pro-Maine bluegrass jam "Christmas Cove," the feel-the-sun-on-your-face feel good vibe of "Two Thumbs Up," the sweet pop of the title tune (already a hit on XM Radio's Kids Place Live), the banjo waltz/science lesson of "Honey Bees," the Memphis groove of "What Do You Do?" and the absolutely beautiful "Blue Canoe" (hey, pair this with Frances England's "Blue Canoe" from Fascinating Creatures!).

Seattle is fast becoming a hotbed of high-quality kids' music, and Johnny Bregar is one of the reasons why. The fact that his albums keep getting better is an indicator that he's here to stay, and that we should expect even greater things from him in the future. Dragonfly soars.

***Dano***

With only his overdubbed acoustic guitars, some light percussion, a little bass guitar, and lots of harmonies, Dano (aka Dan Scot Parr) creates his self-titled kids' debut, an album full of catchy, quiet, melodic, funny tunes about space men, cats, dreams, and the lost city of Atlantis.

Dan Parr is a teacher, musician, and songwriter from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area who released two CDs in the past for grownups, 2002's It Seems, and 2004's Dan Scot Parr, and then decided to give the kids' music route a try. Dano boats 13 tracks of acoustic Americana for families, plus cover art by Jeffrey Miranda that's a little reminiscent of Jose Feliciano's 1968 album Feliciano!

The obvious "hit single" on Dano is "Groovy Spacemen," a wistful pop tune about singing, dancing intergalactic visitors. Check out the ingenious wordplay of "The Animal Cliche Song," and the inevitable sing-along classic "Ugly Toes." Parr's melodic sense is particularly evident on the tuneful coda of the dream saga "Weird Purple Birds," and on the scat breakdown of "Big Daddio." And just right for quiet time are the laid-back grooves of "The Islands," the little bit McCartney-little bit Nilsson-inspired "Back Porch Symphony," and the lullaby "Lovely Dreams."

If you like the breezy pop of The Terrible Twos, you'll dig Dan Parr's children's music debut, Dano. And if you're in the east Texas area, try to check out Parr's intriguingly titled children's program, "Tall Tales, Silly Stories and Memorable Melodies: Using Songs to Teach Life's Lessons."

***Steven Courtney Band***

The third in this week's series of Americana albums for kids, Steven Courtney's Rolling Home is a rootsy mix of influences like Jerry Garcia, mid-70s Bob Dylan, Dan Zanes, and Wilco. This Pennsylvania-based musician has been making music for many years, and Rolling Home is his second CD made specifically for kids.

The band includes Mike McElravy on dobro, acoustic, and steel guitar; Frank Portaro on upright bass, electric bass, and trumpet; Alden Hoke on banjo, fiddle, and electric piano; Doug Walton on acoustic guitar, 6-string banjo, and mandolin; and Steven himself on guitar, percussion, lead vocals, and lots of other stuff, with the whole band lending a hand on backup vocals.

Check out the blues rock of "Strange Old Cat" and "Little Rocking Band;" the super singalong "Big Boatload of Bananas;" and the Americana folk rock of "Happy Anniversary," "Hey Mockingbird!" and "Rolling Home." But it's not all rambunctious rock and roll on Rolling Home: the introspective "Walk with the Wise," the lullaby "Mister Rabbit," and the spooky "Scarecrow" slow down the pace a little. The swaying shanty "Sail Away Lady, Sail Away," the word-filled "Elmer's Electric Tricycle," and the silly "Three Monkey Pirates" round out the album.

Even though Rolling Home is classified as a "kids'" album, it's actually a great CD for the whole family, as is Courtney's other children's album, "Monkey Business as Usual." In fact, most of his music can be enjoyed by listeners of all ages, including the old-school gospel folk rock CD Hootenanny in the Sky, and the Americana country rock albums Momma's Homemade Soup and 25 Cent Songs.

***Matthew Clough & The Cloud Nines***

Another great kids' Americana album! Matthew Clough is a special education teacher based in northern California, who just happens to be involved in the west coast Country Rock scene. On Clough's debut children's CD, he enlists the talents of Butch Boswell (Virgil Cane, The Mother Hips) on string instruments, Mark Folkrod (Virgil Cane) on drums, and Sam Sharp (Joose) on bass. Together they're known as Matthew Clough and The Cloud Nines, and on The Sky's The Limit they turn in a rootsy, rustic, rockin' bunch of songs for kids and their families.

Standout tunes include the Byrds-y "Sing a Song Silly," the shufflin' "Cuckoo Crush," the country funk of the Band-like "Copy Cat," and the sentimental "Happy Father's Day," a tune that Gram Parsons might've sung. And check out the Shel Silverstein-influenced cautionary tale "Flickering Monster," the ringing "Guess I'll Move to the Moon," the sleepy dobro guitar of "What Do Clouds Dream About," and the pedal steel-painted "Digging Daisy."

Here's the cool thing: Clough is using the attention and exposure gained from live performances and album sales to promote causes close to his heart, like Ability First Sports Camp, Sustainable Haiti, and Champ Camp. Music does, indeed, change the world.

***Mo Phillips***

I'm diggin' the lo-fi movement goin' on in Kids' Music right now: Kimya Dawson's Alphabutt, String Bean Jones' Live from the Bathtub, Mr. David's Jump in the Jumpy House, and now Mo Phillips' Train Beard. Now, lo-fi doesn't mean low quality, as evidenced by the great material and performances on all the above CDs. It just means presenting songs from a different angle, thinking outside the musical box, so to speak. And who better to spring this "experimental" approach on than kids, the most open-minded and receptive audience to all things different, sublime, weird, magical, and ridiculous.

Mo Phillips is a musician based in Portland, OR, who has released a couple of Americana/Neil Young-like albums for grownups (The Boat, 2004; Homemade, 2006), and Train Beard follows his stylistic leanings, except with kid subjects and lyrics this time 'round. Guitars, harmonica, organ, and the occasional bongo provide the majority of the instrumentation on Train Beard, supplemented by Phillips' down-to-earth vocals.

"Supa Dupa Race Car" sounds like Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show singing one of those songs Shel Silverstein used to give them; and "I Ain't Gonna Clean My Room" is exactly the kind of poem Silverstein loved to write, as a kid's excessively messy room starts to rebel against him. The title tune is, or should become, a bona fide folk classic: a train travels from head to foot in this a cappella song, sounding like a long-lost Appalachian field holler.

The guitar/organ nonsense song "Cat and Dog" boats lines like "D-O-G dog riding on a bike / B-I-K-E bikin' through the night," while "Change Like a Cloud" uses organ, guitar, and fuzz bass to convey a sense of dreamy imagination. "Leche" is a short nonsense song en Espanol, and "My Ninja Move" battles bedtime fears via a Dave Matthews-like tune.

Other standouts include the playful folk song "Best Friends" and the silly beat poem "The Garbage Man." The only tune that features heavy percussion is "Pizza in a Cup," a drum machine-driven song about a very specific way of serving a slice. That tune then fades into a live performance of the same song, which closes out the album.

Great kids' debut from a unique talent. Check out Train Beard and encourage Mo to keep up the good work!