This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen Magazine #99 (April / May 2002). The magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

Bill Crofut
Dance on a Moonbeam: A Collection of Songs and Poems
[Telarc CD-80554 (2000)]

I guess we could all use a little more Mr. Rogers and a little less Goosebumps these days, so this highly classy, only occasionally treacly project, produced by Bill Crofut just days before he died, is an appropriately gentle offering to the young among us. Although I found the opening track, "Dance on a Moonbeam," a bit ooky (in that morbid, "if I should die before I wake" way some lullabies have), I'd play it to lull a very small child to sleep — though I'd shut off the CD player before the next track, where Julianne Baird and company began urging "Throw him up, up, throw him up high" in the lively Irish "Dandling Song." Crofut's "Alligator Hedgehog" is a bizarrely charming Shaker alphabet song, but even better is his version of "Mr. Fox" with Ben Luxon, in which the two alternate English and American verses of the classic folk song. His nimble arrangement of Edward Lear's "The Table and the Chair" wins the Most Likely To Be Sung By Actual Kids award. Soprano Dawn Upshaw, who takes to the material like a cat to a skein of yarn, is at once earthy and operatic on "The Chipmunk Song" and "Mr. Bear," both recorded by the BBC in front of an English audience. Another diva, Frederica von Stade, offers a lushly un-Shakerly version of "Simple Gifts" and an off-puttingly silly setting of the Robert Penn Warren poem "Little Trotty Wagtail." Crofut's lovely banjo version of Bach's "Bourée," with Carver Blanchard on lute, is unfortunately overlapped by one of Meryl Streep's tiresome, but blessedly brief, Shakespeare readings. A worthy and often rewarding effort, this album, like those cedar toy trains you see in craft shops, will be appreciated more by parents than by children. Proceeds from the album benefit children's charities. - (PMW)

Various artists
Lazy Day, and Other Notions
[Family Service of Rhode Island (2001)]

Purchase of this benefit CD (to support a new school for children with special needs in Providence, Rhode Island) will benefit the good folks who buy it, too. This well-paced collection of family-friendly tunes — meaning acceptable to adult ears as well as children's interests — will make the next car trip or rainy afternoon more enjoyable. Highlights include "Ananzi's Narrow Waist," a folktale told by Len Cabral, whose spellbinding delivery will overcome almost all cases of the squirmies, and "I Don't Wanna Wait" by Bill Harley, delivered in a bouncy Cajun style. Other artists on the CD include Livingston Taylor, Folks Together, Mary Ann Rossoni, and JP Jones. - (SH)

Various artists
Country Goes Raffi
[Rounder Kids 11661-8090-2 (2001)]

If there is to be a tribute to a children's performer it might as well be to Raffi, the hugely successful Canadian singer who is celebrating his 25th anniversary as a children's performer. With most of the tracks recorded in Nashville, the album also serves as an acceptable child's initiation to country music. The fact that the album is unlikely to grow stale for most parents is a bonus. The artists that offer their own uplifting spin on Raffi songs include Asleep at the Wheel, Marty Stuart, Lee Roy Parnell, Raul Malo, and Kathy Mattea. Alison Krauss sings a new lullaby called "Blessed Be," while Billy Gilman sings "Baby Beluga," which fits his style perfectly. Raffi, who is offering his proceeds to a children's health coalition, sings a new song called "Blue White Planet. - (PEC)

Various artists
Daddy-O Daddy: Rare Family Songs of Woody Guthrie
[Rounder 11661-8087-2 (2001)]

In the spirit of shedding new light on Woody Guthrie, such as was the case with the two CDs put out by Billy Bragg and Wilco, attention has now turned to the man's family songs. Six of the 14 songs on Daddy-O Daddy are presented for the first time because they were heretofore unreleased, unrecorded, or unfinished. "Want to See Me Grow" and "Tippy Tap Toe," the songs performed by Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, come from a cassette that was hidden away at the Smithsonian. Kim Wilson's "New Baby Train" and "Bigger" were both sets of lyrics to which music has been added. The former is a six-minute blues-type song that features wonderful New Orleans style piano by Carl "Sonny" Leyland. Wilson is also one of the musicians on a couple of songs by the great Cissy Houston, including a beautiful lullaby called "Sleep Eye." Taj Mahal sings two songs, namely "Don't You Push Me Down" and "Little Sack O' Sugar," both featuring a Caribbean beat and a wonderful backup band. One of the two contributions by Billy Bragg and his band The Blokes is "Dry Bed," another unknown and witty song about pride in outgrowing a common childhood problem. "Curly Headed Baby," one of Ramblin' Jack Elliott's two songs, can also be interpreted as a love song for adults. Syd Straw, the only singer who is featured on only one song, sings "My Daddy (Flies a Ship in the Sky)." Daddy-O Daddy leads off with Woody Guthrie himself narrating a brief excerpt from "Howdy Little Newlycome," and the album ends with Guthrie reciting the poem in its entirety. Guthrie's love of children is evident in all the songs, and the superb production by Frankie Fuchs should make Daddy-O Daddy a delight for children of all ages. - (PEC)

Wee Folk contributors: Pamela Murray Winters, Susan Hartman, Paul-Emile Comeau.