The eMusic Dozen: Music for Kids

One of the unwritten rules about a list like this is that you can't highlight the same artist more than once. If you could, Dan Zanes would be on here eight times. The former Del Fuego is perhaps the only rocker making kids albums these days who has the formula exactly right. That's because his albums are for adults, too, but not in that wink-wink way where he's writing on two levels, one for each generation. He's making good music for all ages with interesting arrangements, varied, well-chosen songs (when he doesn't write them himself) and striking harmonies. The albums are tight, but they retain a feeling of spontaneity; a happy hootenanny with guest appearances from musical friends (on this album we get Roseanne Cash, Loudon Wainwright III and Sandra Bernhard, along with staple Barbara Brousal). With Mr. Zanes, if a song gets stuck in your head you can be assured that it's a song worth hearing.

Traditional music helped spur the friendship between Garcia and Grisman and it's captured here in an album released just a couple of years before Garcia's death at age 53. The two musicians’ closeness is palpable in their lyrical banter on "Jenny Jenkins" and "Arkansas Traveler," but more, in the lively interplay between the iconic Garcia's guitar and Grisman's “dawg-style” mandolin. (Note: I'm not talking Snoop here; Grisman's “dawg-style” came far earlier, a blend of wide-ranging influences that include bluegrass, jazz and swing.) Here, kids can witness the duo's acoustic mastery on music they'll respond to, like Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train" and standards like "Hot Corn, Cold Corn" and "Hopalong Peter."

There’s a lot in the media these days about childhood obesity in America. It's a crisis, the health experts say, before offering predictable solutions such as putting away the chips and watching less TV. Here's another solution: get the kids to listen to Rufus Thomas. Funky Chicken is thick with danceable funk that is guaranteed to get everybody moving, and on top of that, the album offers two versions of "Old McDonald Had a Farm." The first is, hands down, the most soulful version ever recorded; the second is the funkiest.

I always swore that if I taught creative writing again, I'd require Nordine's Colors as the textbook. In 34 tracks, Nordine personifies the color spectrum with spoken-word riffs over a stage set of flute, vibes, guitar and drums. The album wasn't created with kids in mind, but you can consider it an early introduction to jazz that will escort hep youngsters beyond the primaries and into colors like russet, cerise and puce. Turquoise trembles like water, Nordine tells us; burgundy is fat. Magenta has her own gossip column and "lavender is an old, old, old, old lady." The album synthesizes color with poetry, story and music in a way that will incite kids’ imaginations.

She’s not exactly the Ramones, but anyone who can get your kids buzzing like Berkner does deserves a mention. She has a clear, strong voice and she's not afraid to use it, whether singing about clouds or making piggy noises. Some of her stuff is just plain silly, but grownups listen to silly music, too. How else would you explain Quiet Riot? Kids who watch Noggin will recognize "Buzz Buzz" and "Pig On Her Head," two of the album's best tracks. She also does a chugging version of "Little Red Caboose," scoring extra points with little train lovers. She's Suzanne Vega for the 3 to 7 set.

Here’s a lot of music for little cowhands from the anachronistic (or timeless, because I mean to be complimentary) quartet. With their bass, fiddle, accordion and yodeling, Riders in the Sky put the highlights of their Western repertoire together for a two-album set that also showcases their long, stellar career, which began in the late ‘70s. The two albums in the set go together, of course, but Disc 1 gets a special mention because it contains "Here Comes the Santa Fe," "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," along with the Riders' "Salting of the Slug." Enough said.

Sometimes a kid just needs to rock out. This album features a number of CCR's hits, most of them catchy, kid-accessible and sing-out-loudable. Here are songs about the moon ("Bad Moon Rising"), the rain ("Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" and "Who'll Stop the Rain?") and a boat ("Proud Mary"). You also get "Lookin' Out My Back Door," a family favorite, at least in my house. Plus you get to teach your kids terms like "choogle" and "swamp rock." What more do you need?

Acoustic folk-rockers Ezra Idlet and Keith Grimwood offer tightly blended tracks built for kids, with nice hooks and just enough repetition. They infuse electric muscle into "We are the Dinosaurs" and a fine sense of humor into everything else. The group also believes in offering kids truth in music -- "Day Care Blues" is just that. Though CDs had already been around for eight years when this album came out, they didn't feel obligated to fill all 75 minutes of space; the 12 tracks are in keeping with a child's attention span. Their layered arrangement of "All I Want is a Perfect Cup of Coffee" is a bit reminiscent of They Might Be Giants, another group doing kids albums these days. (TMBG are an acquired taste. I never quite acquired it so they aren't listed here, but if you did, check out No!.)

As the title might suggest, this is not an album to be played before 7:30 pm -- unless, of course, it's naptime. Even "Little Red Caboose," which must be pulling into the station for the night, is a lullaby. Loeb and Mitchell give us sweet, breathy vocals on traditional songs from the US, France, Spain and Japan. They also perform some of their own quality numbers like the album's title track, though their cover of Bob Dylan's "New Morning" is the nicest surprise. Alas, they also cover "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," which is like "Stairway to Heaven" in that there's no real reason for anyone to record it again. The album retains an intimate feel with close harmonies, sometimes backed by piano and guitar, sometimes by fiddle and banjo, sometimes by nothing but the cool, night air.