On Monday, over on the Babble Boards, a reader named KarenLynn asked "What's your kiddie playlist?"
Here's the short answer: Like most parents of our demographic, our soundtrack at Chez Broussard features a lot of Dan Zanes and Laurie Berkner. But we're also playing a lot of American roots music for the kid, since it's something the whole family can agree on.
I'm partial to Pete Seeger's pro-union protest songs ("Which side are you on? Will you be a union man, or will you be a scab?). My son prefers Seeger's children's music ouvre. In heavy rotation at the moment: selections from American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 2. The album features classic kids' songs like "Camptown Races," "I Had A Rooster (Barnyard Song)," "Froggie Went A Courtin'," and "Blow the Man Down." Seeger performs most of the songs on the banjo-- if that's not kid-friendly, I don't know what is. You can listen to some excerpts here.
After several weeks of listening to Seeger in the car, "I Had A Rooster" has replaced the "Elmo's World" theme song as the number one song stuck in my head all day. Whew.
Pete Seeger, American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 2, $14.99 on Amazon.
