StinkFest 2009: Update

Wow! StinkFest 2009 is already off to a rousing success: initial registration is completely filled, and a waiting list has been started. Everybody's eager to hear who won the final music showcase spot through SonicBids, so in the meantime, here's the complete performance lineup as well as the panel discussion themes:

Panel Discussions:
12:00pm-12:45pm - Promotion
12:50pm-1:35pm - Booking
2:30pm-3:15pm - Distribution
3:20pm-4:00pm - TV, Books & Beyond

Industry-Only Showcase:
5:00pm-11:00pm
Jambo
Sonicbids contest winner
Brady Rymer
The Jimmies
School of Rock
AudraRox
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
Lunch Money
Ralph’s World

For full details, visit the StinkFest 2009 website.

Songs of the South

Several great new kids' albums have come from the southern states over the past few weeks, and I've posted short reviews of each over at About.com.

The Baby Grands are a trio based in Atlanta whose self-titled children's debut is as witty as They Might Be Giants or Barenaked Ladies, and as laid-back as Jack Johnson or The Dave Matthews Band. Their CD, by the way, has received more user reviews by far than any other on the Kidsmusic.About.com site!

Daddy A Go Go, another Atlanta-based artist, has been rockin' the kids' music scene for 10 years. His first retrospective, Come On, Get Happy! The Best of Daddy A Go Go, Vol. 1, compiles some of the best tunes from his six albums for kids.

Trout Fishing In America, Arkansas' favorite kids' band, have been at it for 30 years, but have never released a true "best of" album. My Name is Chicken Joe, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch, is a picture book version of the Trout's tune of the same name. The book comes with an 11-song CD of the duo's greatest hits, a solid collection of songs for fans and new listeners alike.

***Michael Charles Smith***

Now, this is not your typical kiddie album! Michael Charles Smith is a marimba master based in Portland, OR, and he's created an instrumental concept album designed to be the soundtrack to an imaginary picture book. Melodies for Wooden Children is a series of 20 original marimba-only tunes that, along with Micalah Wilson's album art, "tell" the story of Noni, Babo, and Ani's adventures in a land of make-believe.

Song titles like "Noni and the Tickle Bugs," "Dark Water Mapping," "Nyht the Fire Fairy Queen," and "Re-inventing the Spirits of Good and Evil" are meant to spark the imaginations of children, as well as introduce them to the sounds and nuances of the marimba. Plunk this one down on the turntable and have your little ones draw their own musically-inspired pictures.

StinkFest 2009

Hey, kids' musicians! Interested in getting inside info about the industry and trading thoughts with label owners, PR people, and booking agents? Welcome to StinkFest! Bill Childs, Tor Hyams, and Stephanie Mayers have put together what may be the world's first family music conference that fully explores the diversity of today's children's music market.

StinkFest will include panel discussions on promotion, booking, distribution, and diversification, followed by a music showcase headlined by Ralph's World. The conference will be held Saturday, May 2, 2009 in Brooklyn, NY, so if you're interested in attending or would like to win a performance spot in the music showcase, check out the official StinkFest website for full details.

***John Carlin & the Kids' Music Underground***

A few years ago, Brooklyn's John Carlin started his own program of interactive music classes for kids, and called it "The Kids' Music Underground." About the same time, he released his first CD for kids, First Time for Everything, a one-man project of covers and originals. This January, Carlin and his band released Welcome to the Kids' Music Underground!, an album that's more in keeping with his personal worldview and musical ideals exemplified by his programs for children.

Carlin and band roll through some rootsy rock on "Meet You at the Playground," "A Dinosaur Named Fred," "Air Guitar," and the title track, while world music and the blues are featured on "Jambalaya Road" and "Big Bed Now." Carlin includes a full-band remake of "Eliza" from First Time, sounding that much better with vocal harmonies and additional instruments added to the mix.

The activity songs "I'm Flyin'" and "Tag Song" are perfect for live concerts, while the band sound a bit like Wet Willie on the mostly-vocals tune "Everybody's Rollin'." But I gotta admit, I like the the slower songs on Welcome better, with exceptional tunes like "Extraordinary Day," "One Family," "My Front Door," and "Goodbye Song" sounding like they could be included on a new version of Sesame Street.

Kids' music nowadays is a kind of underground movement, as bands and performers like John Carlin make albums that are flying under the mainstream radar. Support your local children's music scene and get kid rockers like Carlin, and his album Welcome to the Kids' Music Underground!, on the radar.

***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.

***Shāna Barry***

Somewhere between Kimya Dawson's wordy stream-of-consciousness songs and Nick Drake's whispery dream fever tunes lies Shāna Barry's first album for kids, A Pink Whale and a Very Tall Tree.

The Frances England-sounding eight-song EP contains a group of very visual songs: close your eyes and let the lyrics tell you stories about the special secret island of fōf, described in great detail on "Around the Island" and "The Great Mystery;" and about the adventures of a curious fōfer named Otamo who encounters and befriends "The Pink Whale" named Guinivere and climbs a very tall tree to "Cloudland."

Like any normal kid, Otamo loves to talk about "The Day I Learned to Ride My Bike," but then gets philosophical with "Some are Green," an ode to diversity and acceptance. The short album is rounded off with a lullaby and an instrumental. Barry performs the songs with just her voice and guitar, and an occasional ukulele. The stark musical background is a perfect palate for lines like "I hop from rock to rock and peer into tide pools," and "The rogue wave passed us by," and "Who wants a humdrum earth when it can be vibrant and grand," and words like chicory, anemones, cumulonimbus, and centripetal.

A beautiful, quiet, mysterious album that honors kids by challenging their perceptions and vocabularies. Kudos to Shāna Barry.