Award winning NYC children’s singer/songwriter Suzi Shelton is getting ready to release a new EP with her brand new music video “Tomboy In A Princess Dress” on December 11th. Originally inspired by her seven year old daughter, this song portrays some pretty active and strong girls who also love to wear princess dresses, tiara, and tutus. “I can climb the tallest treetop, barefoot without a care. Tough as nails and fast as lightening, braids and ribbons in my hair.”

The eponymous title track “Tomboy in a Princess Dress” is written for families to celebrate girls who embody extraordinary girl power whether it’s climbing a mountain (literally or figuratively), riding a skateboard or starting a water balloon fight…while not diminishing the need to express themselves in dress up. Suzi’s new release features 3 brand new recordings with her rockin’ band including “Tomboy in a Princess Dress,” “Smile in My Heart” featuring her daughter Emma on backup vocals and traditional song “Pony Boy.” It also contains the brand new music video for “Tomboy in a Princess Dress, ” produced by Roley Poley Productions.  You can hear all three tracks here.

On “Smile in My Heart” Emma makes her recording debut, although she has been performing at Suzi’s concerts for years as part of the backup group “The Gumdrops.” “Pony Boy” is an upbeat, sweet, traditional folk song and features Chicago-based children’s artist, Little Miss Ann. The EP was produced by Marc Bazerman and features Suzi’s band including Steve Elliot on guitars and banjo, Matt Clohesy on bass (both upright and electric) and Rob Heath on drums as well as Erin Hewgley on cello, and the Gumdrops, Samantha and Sabrina van Putten.

Suzi is also a local mom blogger who writes about her parenting experiences with a 7 and a 13 year old, and life in the children’s music industry where she has performed for over 10 years. She has performed at Symphony Space, The White House, and Madison Square Park’s Outdoor Summer Concert Series, as well as other venues across the country.

Suzi Shelton is offering an ONLINE HOLIDAY FAMILY SHOW (pay what you wish) via Stageit.com on Monday, December 19th at 6:30pm (EST). Anyone with a computer can join in on the fun and hear the new songs, and email her their song requests during the show.

Laura Veirs released her newest album on November 8th.  Tumble Bee is a collection of folk songs for children.  Recorded by Grammy-nominated producer Tucker Martine in their home in Portland, Oregon in the spring of 2011, it covers a wide range of American folk songs, from early 20^thcentury work songs to the ballads of Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Peggy Seeger and Harry Belafonte. Veirs and Martine have made a jaunty and moving album to be enjoyed by children as well as all fans of Veirs’ earlier work.

The album features guest appearances by Colin Meloy (Decemberists), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Bela Fleck and Brian Blade (drummer for Bob Dylan) among many others. As Smithsonian Folkways recording artist Elizabeth Mitchell says, “This is a luminous, smart, essential and truly extraordinary album.”

Inspired by the birth of her son and by countless fans who’ve told her over the years how much their kids love her records, Veirs became curious about the history of American children’s music.  She and Martine listened to hundreds of songs from the past several centuries, including Harry Smith’s famous Anthology of American Folk Music. They selected what Veirs calls, “a sampling that reflects our richness as a people.” Tumble Bee was recorded at home in the spring of 2011.

“Many of these songs have been forgotten throughout the years,” says Martine.  “We wanted to bring these beloved songs to a new generation with an instrumentation that both honors their traditions and creates something unique.”

You can learn more about Tumble Bee and Laura Veirs in this video. You can purchase Tumble Bee on Amazon, and at LauraVeirs.com.

Many parents and teachers are concerned about finding great spots for kids to enjoy on the internet and how to avoid colorful or inappropriate content.

One award-winning children’s performer, and frequent contributor to the Kids Music Connection blog, DARIA (Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou) has created a great space dedicated to world music called Multicultural Kids Music Videos (http://multikidsmusicvids.com ).  It’s a family-friendly place to experience world cultures through music, dance, instruments and related high quality animations and videos. In addition, viewers are invited to suggest videos and win a free multicultural children’s music cd if their choice is selected as an “Add”.

Created by 5 time award-winning children’s performer DARIA (Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou), this site now has videos from a variety of sources in over 20 languages and adds new ones approximately every two weeks. From popular bilingual songs in Spanish and English to animations of children’s rhymes from India, travel videos of Africa, Turkish lullabyes and a series of silly gummy bear videos, the site shares a rainbow of world cultures as expressed through their music and cultural traditions.  In addition, there are generally one inspiring or silly video per new installment and “how-to” videos about instruments that can be found around the world or kids who have created or perform on instruments in new or unique ways.

For complete information on Multicultural Kids Music Vid’s, visit  http://multikidsmusicvids.com .  For more on website creator, DARIA, visit her website at www.dariamusic.com.

This sleepy gem is an example of a video you can find on this site.

We recently had a great opportunity to enjoy a performance by one of our favorite children’s singers - Suzi Shelton.  On October 15th, Suzi Shelton performed as part of the Big Doozie Lil’ Kids Show at the Amazing Things Art Center in Framingham, MA.

I’ll tell you a little secret. More often than not, my children tend to be a little slow to jump to their feet and dance, yet Suzi managed to get them swinging and dancing early in the performance.

Want to take a peek?  You can watch a little video I made of the concert.

Charlie Hope’s recently released third album, Songs, Stories and Friends: Let’s Go Play! is full of fun and adventures, with a story thread throughout.

Cool Mom Picks says “this would be my new go-to CD gift for little ones. I can just see my preschool niece grabbing another tiny fist to dance in circles to the happy-pop of Best Friends or listening intently to the clever short spoken-word pieces like Tiny Tim, about a soap-bubble eating turtle.” Read more at Cool Mom Picks.

Tiny Tim is my daughter’s favorite too.  In fact, she was repeating it after hearing it only 2-3 times!

Join Charlie Hope and her friends to the park! You’ll go on a journey with songs, verses, and the spoken word. You’ll recognize some songs (join in if you like!) and learn some new songs as well.

So, bring your lunch, your imagination, your friends, and Let’s Go Play!

You can purchase Songs, Stories and Friends: Let’s Go Play! at Amazon, and other fine retailers!

Get your FREE download of “One That I Love” here!

Listen to a preview of clips below:

Just when you thought nothing new was happening in the indie family music scene, you are rocked by Jeremy Plays Guitar!  Combining rock, pop and jazz music with kid-inspired lyrics, Jeremy Plays Guitar has created an innovative and fun way to reach kids through music.  Who says an inspired groove can’t also help kids learn?  Not Jeremy Zmuda.  According to Jeremy, “All children are musical and kids’ natural fascination with singing and dancing is an amazing tool that has not been fully utilized–until now.”

Jeremy Zmuda was born into a family of children’s educators in Long Beach, Indiana where he began his love affair with Hendrix, cruising to public radio, and the guitar.  He cut his teeth at Chicago’s Columbia College, developing his taste for Jazz guitar.  In 1993, he was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he graduated with honors in Jazz performance and music education.  After accepting a coveted teaching position at Berklee College of Music and performing in Boston for several years, he decided to make the move to NYC in 2004.  Immediately his musical world “grew beyond his imagination.”

At this time, Jeremy began developing music for early childhood education programs including The Maple Street School in Brooklyn, the Roosevelt Island Nursery School, his own theme based music camps in Brooklyn, and as a consultant for Sesame Street.  Additionally, he created an original music program for young children and their parents entitled ‘Music Time Kids’ to enhance children’s inherent musical abilities.  Though Jeremy continued to perform and write music for adults including earning the prestigious grand prize award in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for his composition, “On Standby,” he continued to be drawn to writing and performing music for children.  Inspired by the many children that he worked with through preschool programs and privately, he collaborated with Clare Manchon (Clare and The Reasons) to create the critically acclaimed album, Songs in the Key of New York.  This thoughtful CD met with rave reviews both for the music and the lyrics.   It successfully celebrates the five boroughs in a “cool, jazzy poise” that also gives the kids of NYC a way to talk, learn and sing about their environment.  The result is a catchy, melodious and original collection that speaks to kids and adults alike.

From there, Jeremy could no longer deny his gift for creating a magical musical experience that secretly teaches kids how to negotiate their environment through singing and dancing.  He teamed up with early childhood specialist Lizzie Bicknell to form Jeremy Plays Guitar and has collaborated with musicians from diverse musical roots to create his newest album, Use Your Words, focusing on giving children language and strategies to navigate the everyday challenges of childhood in today’s world.

WIN a Jeremy Plays Guitar CD from Sage & Savvy (Giveaway closes 2/25) and download a free Valentines song on the Jeremy Plays Guitar website.

WIN an Oran Etkin CD from Sage & Savvy (Plus CDs from 2 other artists).  Giveaway closes 2/25.

Oran Etkin is both an internationally acclaimed jazz and world music artist, and the creator of the groundbreaking Timbalooloo method of enriching the musicality of young children that has been endorsed by Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Harvey Keitel, Daphna Kastner Keitel, Ken Burns, Julie Burns and Edie Falco, all of whom enrolled their children in Oran Etkin’s Timbalooloo music classes. The classes, which progress from infancy through childhood, are offered throughout New York and have recently been expanded to L.A. and Paris as well!

Etkin’s music was featured on many notable compilations, including Healthy Food For Thought, which is nominated for a GRAMMY this year, as well as Putumayo Kids’ Jazz Playground, winner of the Parents Choice Gold Award. Etkin’s 2010 family CD, Wake Up Clarinet! features his band with soulful vocalist Charenee Wade and drummer Jason Marsalis as well as entertaining video from a Timbalooloo concert with Clara Net and Big Mama Tuba! The CD won awards from Parents Choice, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio and NAPPA.

Most recently Wake Up Clarinet has been nominated in this year’s prestigious Independent Music Awards!

Described as a “great clarinet player” and “an excellent improviser” by the New York Times’ jazz critic Ben Ratliff, Etkin has performed around the world with musicians ranging from rapper Wyclef Jean to jazz guitarist Mike Stern. His 2009 release, Kelenia, won the Independent Music Award for “Best World Beat Album” and has been hailed as setting “a new standard for world music in the decade of the 2000’s” by the All Music Guide. Etkin brings this uniquely diverse perspective to his music for children, which incorporates rhythms and melodies from Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe.

The popularity of Etkin’s educational method has spread through word of mouth. His music classes are now offered throughout New York City and have been attended by over 600 students. Etkin has also taken is educational method on tour, enabling families throughout the US to participate in his classes as well as full-band Timbalooloo performances.

Harvey Keitel and Daphna Kastner Keitel, who enrolled their son in Oran Etkin’s Timbalooloo classes for three years, remarked that he “makes music from all over the world accessible and fun for children to listen to and learn about. From the age of two, our son was talking about Herbie Hancock, Mozart, Samba, and African music – and he knew the difference!”

Oran Etkin’s Timbalooloo was founded to expand access to Etkin’s method of enriching children’s innate musicality and overall development through music classes, CDs such as Wake Up Clarinet!, concerts, books, dvds and television programming. The name Timbalooloo comes form a 3 year-old student from Etkin’s music classes, who went home and sat his mother and baby brother down for a 20 minute music class in which he pretended to be Oran and demonstrated to his “pupils” an imaginary instrument he called the Timbalooloo. The story captures the essence of Etkin’s mission: to excite children about the wonders of music and musical instruments and encourage their creative freedom, personal ingenuity and healthy
cognitive, emotional and physical development.

“really really remarkable… he has touched both of our boys’ lives”
- Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber

“immediately connects to a child’s imagination”
-Edie Falco

“Pied Piper Oran Etkin Wakes Up Instruments And Audiences”
- Philadelphia Daily News

Paul Rogers is a singer/ songwriter for the San Francisco band , Those Darn Accordions. He has recorded 6 CDs  and toured  the US and Europe with the group over the period of the last 20 years.

He grew up in Dearborn, MI and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in composition.

Rogers has made numerous television appearances with Those Darn Accordions. Some notable appearances are “The American Music Awards with Drew Carey”, Penn and Teller’s “Sin City Spectacular”, “The Donny and Marie Show”, ” ABC World News Tonight”, MTV and “The Jerry Lewis Telethon”.

In 2010, Paul was able to to realize a long time wish of releasing his first album of children’s songs, “The Cul de Sac Kids”.  The CD contains 12 original songs and a cover of the Disney classic, “Bare Necessities”.  Two of the songs, “Sick Of Being Sick” and “Stop The Haircut”, are currently in rotation on Sirius-XM’s “Kid’s Place Live” channel.

For more info and song samples, visit http://www.thosedarnaccordions.com/paul/

Enter to win a Paul Rogers CD at Sage and Savvy (Closes Feb 25th)

We are teaming up again with Sage & Savvy to spotlight 5 artists, and give away THREE CDs!  Sage & Savvy is a blog based in warm Hawaii—difficult for me to imagine, as we are buried in snow here in Massachusetts!

Take a quick virtual trip to Hawaii and let them know which 3 CDs you would like if you win.  Here is a list of the 5 featured artists.  You can click on the linked names to see profiles, or the adjacent link to go to their website.

Paul Rogers http://www.thosedarnaccordions.com/paul/
Rik Barron http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rikbarron5
Jeremy Plays Guitar www.jeremyplaysguitar.com
Dennis Caraher http://www.dogbonetown.com/
Oran Etkin http://www.oranetkin.com/

Listen to clips from each artist here.  Who is your favorite?

Remember to enter to win CDs from three of these artists (the three that you choose) at Sage & Savvy.  The deadline for entries is February 25, 2011, 11:59pm HST.

Dennis grew up on a farm in Iowa about one thousand years ago. [editor's note: that is a LONG time ago!]

He now lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with his daughter and son and his pretty wife.

In those thousand years (several centuries were lost to reading Superman comic books in a treehouse), Dennis has managed to write some really cool songs. Luckily, he is able to sing them, too and even, amazingly, play his guitar at the same time.

He now gives performances around New England (and sometimes back in Iowa) where children  and parents pay exorbitant amounts of money to dance and sing and hear about tales of coffee-drinking dinosaurs, little blue bugs that drink from little blue bug mugs and tales of the pig who moves to the city. Everyone laughs, dances and goes home with a gift certificates to the “I Miss the Mud Diner” which is located in Bayard, Iowa and is run by a family of prize pigs. Vegetarian.

He has three CD’s for sale, each costing one million dollars though they are sometimes on special of around ten dollars.  His latest CD, “I Miss the Mud” was been awarded the 2009 Parents’ Choice Gold Medal!  Here’s a review:

“Singer/songwriter Dennis Caraher (“Dog Bone Town,” “Bow Wow Baby”) delivers smiles with quirky humor and sunny charisma, wrapped in an agile musicality that embraces folk, country, old-time rock ‘n roll and a cappella vocals. Inventive percussion and a kids’ chorus complement a cautionary tale about a pig who hits the big time but yearns for his muddy origins. The a capella charmer, “Little Blue Bug,” begins with a little bug stuck in a rug (“I gave him help, I got a little bug hug”) and turns into a participatory, repeat-after-me romp.

Caraher’s inventive, individual voice works equally well in quieter songs that include the yearning “Without You” and an exquisite variation of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” (“It was always there to see when I’d feel my father carry me.”) Among other singers taking the spotlight are a young girl, Emma Henderson, who performs a heartfelt tribute to mothers (“I Love My Mom”), and adult artist Jill Connolly, whose lullaby-soft “I’ll Watch Over You” is accompanied by guitarist Joe Belmont, one of many sterling musicians here.”

“Dog Bone Town” has been awarded the 2002 Parents’ Choice Silver Medal!

“Bow Wow Baby” was awarded….praise from Dennis’s family.

Here are some things you didn’t know about Dennis:

His  songs have been heard on “All things Considered” on NPR.

“A brilliant songwriter” – Boston Globe

“Dennis’s songs are unbelievably catchy” – Terre Roche of “The Roches”

“Dennis is not working up to his full potential” – his second-grade teacher

He writes music for adults and has two grown-up CD’s.

His poetry has been read by Garrison Keillor on Writers’ Almanac.