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papaculture · 8 years ago

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Kids Music: Elizabeth Mitchell

The best advice we ever received as parents was: don’t listen to any music you don’t want to listen to. Music has always been important in our household. My wife and I met while working in record stores — she wouldn’t have talked to me, let alone hired me (as she did), if I hadn’t passed the taste test. My first paid writing gig was a music journalist for Cream Magazine, back when writing about music still was a paid gig.

Minimal Stimulation

Prior to becoming a parent, limited exposure to kids’ music gave me toothache, headache and that kind of soulache you get from consuming sugar-coated plastic. Broadly speaking, my approach to parenting has been “minimal stimulation”. There’s no great psychology going on here. I just figured if I could keep the kids entertained with the least effort — in other words, the lowest possible level of entertainment (“oh look, a leaf!”)— then I would be making things easier for myself later on. You can’t easily walk back for the sort of maximal stimulation much modern kids fodder strives for.

As a result, when it came to music choices, I tended to avoid the fast-paced and frenetic. No Hi-5 or [actually, I don’t really know the names of any other kiddie pop bands]. Even The Wiggles seemed a bit energetic for my liking. We realised early on that simplicity and rhythm were key, which led me back towards reggae, ska and early rock n’ roll. Bob Marley, Eddie Cochran, The Beatles, Desmond Dekker, Buddy Holly. (I’ve since interviewed several rock stars who have taken a similar approach with their own kids.)

Get Back

Picking music for a one-year-old made me reassess the joyful magic of those early Beatles records; albums I’d previously dismissed for being trite. It Won’t Be Long, I Saw Her Standing There and Please Mr Postman got bub swaying in her highchair. (That said, Yellow Submarine was an instant favourite. We love Ringo.)

We also revisited music we had listened to growing up in the late 70s and 80s, particularly Patsy Biscoe (the “Patsy goes electric” LP is great) and the early Play School releases. Hickory Dickory and Hey Diddle Diddle, the first two Play School records are a rich source of nursery rhymes, games and playful songs. But, nostalgia aside, what makes these records so palatable for a parent is the jazzy instrumentation that relies primarily on piano and woodwind. The acoustic production is easy on the ear, but also functions as a superb introduction to musical genres including country, jazz and folk.

Folking Up

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about parenting is rediscovering the folk traditions that live on in early childhood fiction, poetry and games. But I was surprised to note that some of the more recent songs on these Play School records were written by the great American folksinger Woody Guthrie. (Driving In My Car, Little Sack of Sugar to name two).

Sensing a chance to broaden out from Play School into the wider world of folk, I went looking for Guthrie’s other kiddy compositions. This led me to Elizabeth Mitchell.

Based in New York State, Elizabeth has moved from recording folk music for adults to releasing a series of albums aimed at ankle-biters, without forgetting that at least 50% of her audience would be tall enough to ride a scary rollercoaster. The first album of hers we bought was Little Seed: Songs For Children by Woody Guthrie. In the sleeve notes, she explains that her cover of Little Sugar was intended to sound like Johnny Cash. (Other albums feature parent-pleasing selections reworking the likes of Cat Stevens and the Velvet Underground.)

Little Seed

I’m not sure we’ve listened to any album more often than we have Little Seed. What’s most remarkable about this is that I’m still not remotely sick of it. There have been times when the CD player has been left on repeat, the kids have gone off to play, and neither my wife nor I have been tempted to put something else on.

Much of this is down to Elizabeth’s voice. While it has a clarity, it also has a warmth and familiarity – a sort of lived-in quality. Many kids performers will strive to be larger-than-life, but there is no showiness to Elizabeth’s performance. Instead there is an intimacy. There is a sense that she is singing for herself, or for your family alone. This family atmosphere is helped by the presence of Elizabeth’s young daughter Storey on several tracks, allowing listeners the chance to imagine participating.

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The Albums

We have probably given Little Seed to at least half a dozen other children we judge to be of good taste. (Or, more accurately, to other parents we judge to be of good taste.) I’ve enjoyed Elizabeth’s other albums almost as much. Only Catch The Moon, which she recorded with Lisa Loeb, occasionally veers on the overly sweet — to my ear, at least; the kids love that one.

Her latest record Turn Turn Turn, on which she’s partnered with Dan Zanes, is wonderful. It’s less immediate, perhaps, but it’s now the one the four-year-old asks for most often.

There’s even a Christmas album, The Sounding Joy, which further opens the door onto the folk genre. Its 24 tracks provide a comprehensive collection of folk carols, many of which I’d never heard before. Sedate and soulful, it’s as delightful in season as it is out of it. As far as Christmas albums go, only Phil Spector has a lead on this one.

Age and stage: Infant to 10 (Okay, to 40).

Gender stuff: Elizabeth’s husband Dan provides a male presence on a number of the tracks. There’s little sense of old fashioned gender roles.

Outdated bits: Elizabeth has sensitively updated a couple of tracks.

#elizabeth mitchell #folk music #kids music #kids folk #music review

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