Little Miss Ann - Follow Me

Chicago's Ann Torralba has released several albums of family music over the past few years, each CD better than the last. Her latest, Follow Me, continues her string of organic, thoughtful, joyful collections of tunes for music-loving families.

Follow Me kicks off with a cover of "Someday, Some Morning, Sometime," a music-less Woody Guthrie lyric that Billy Bragg and Wilco refurbished with a new melody for Mermaid Avenue Vol. II. Ann performs a much more energetic reading than Bragg and Wilco's woozy, laid back version, giving the tune a "wake up, let's live!" feeling. The title track follows, continuing the "celebrate the day" vibe; then Ann asks, "Can You Make a Circle?" as the band perform an activity song for which Kristi Thom provided the lyrics. Ann brilliantly updates the old camp song "I Love the Mountains," aka "Boom De Ah Da," by giving it more of a jam band, danceable feel (dig the groovy tambourine and flute during the instrumental interlude!). And the droning musical accompaniment and the excitedly rushed vocals in the verses make "Two's Today" sound like a long-lost Velvet Underground song.

Rather than present a typical "I miss you" tune, the singer exclaims she "Can't Wait to See You" because she wants to dance, dance, dance with her friend, as early '90s jangle pop meets Jefferson Airplane in this great movement song. Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell of You Are My Flower join Ann on "I Got a Light," one of the highlights of Follow Me, sounding like no less than Fairport Convention playing a Decemberists song. Ann then covers Frank Loesser's "Bushel and a Peck," a tune originally written for the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls and later made famous by Perry Como and Betty Hutton. The song was also covered by fellow kindie rocker Dan Zanes on his 2000 album Rocket Ship Beach.; here, Ann updates the tune by utilizing Chris Frumkin's funky clavinet and a crowd-participatory wordless chorus. Ann then performs "Jolly Ole' Soul," an original song that sounds like it could be an ancient nursery rhyme performed by The Incredible String Band. Follow Me comes to a gentle close with the counting song, "Three Little Pumpkins," a sort of neo-bluegrass alternative to the old storytime standby "Five Little Ducks."

To my ears, the songs on Follow Me are more "feels" than compositions; Little Miss Ann seems to be writing from the soul rather than trying to document literal events with cookie cutter arrangements. It sounds as if these songs came together in the moment for Ann rather than her trying to fit a traditional "I must construct a song that fits a certain children's music style" mold. And we listeners are better off for it!

Released May 1, 2014; Late Bloomer Records

Track Listing

1. "Someday, Some Morning, Sometime"
2. "Follow Me"
3. "Can You Make a Circle?"
4. "I Love the Mountains"
5. "Two's Today"
6. "Can't Wait to See You"
7. "I Got a Light"
8. "Bushel and a Peck"
9. "Jolly Ole' Soul"
10. "Three Little Pumpkins"