Mr. Greg 、 Cass Mccombs - Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs Sing & Play New Folk Songs for Children - Import CD

Credits:

Mr. Greg 、 Cass McCombs

Description:

Following the release of a particularly playful and breezy tenth solo album, Heartmind, in 2022, style-assimilating singer/songwriter Cass McCombs teamed up with childhood friend Greg Gardner to record a set of childrens songs that Gardner had written and stockpiled. A preschool teacher known as Mr. Greg, Gardners songs were penned with age- and classroom-appropriate instruction in mind and touch on topics ranging from foreign languages ("Friends from All Around the World," Hello and Goodbye versions) and animals ("I’m a Nocturnal Animal") to recycling ("Things That Go in the Recycling Bin") and vocations ("J-O-B"). McCombs stepped up with arrangements that incorporate musical styles as diverse as the subject matter, and, as the title suggests, they together performed the 20 songs that comprise Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs Sing and Play New Folk Songs for Children. Any fans of McCombs expecting the anodyne may be pleased to learn that, while nothing here is exactly psychedelic or irreverent (although "Roll Around Downtown" warns us to keep an eye out for cops), McCombs gets into the carefree spirit of the songs with efficient but freewheeling arrangements that touch on reggae ("J-O-B"), traditional country ("Each One of Us"), rockabilly ("Roll Around Downtown"), and more, along with plenty of folk. Also setting the album apart from a lot of childrens music are songs like "Requiem for Ruth Bader Ginsburg," an earnest bluegrass outing that doubles as a biographic overview and lesson on integrity. Also included alongside subject matter like "My Skull Is Made Out of Bone" and "Paper Airplane" is the pure folk entry "Wave a Flag for Harvey Milk" ("A flag that stands for love, made of rainbow-colored silk"), which encourages advocacy and the celebration of differences. A handful of the songs here invite children into the room, such as those who offer up their opinions on "What’s Your Favorite Kind?" Perhaps the closest thing to a conventional folk-pop song is the jaunty "Together with You," while the Cochran-inflected "Little Wilma Wiggly Worm" opens the album with a tuneful rocker. The influence of such socially conscious kids songwriters as Ella Jenkins and Woody Guthrie is evident on Mr. Greg & Cass McCombs Sing and Play New Folk Songs for Children, and as if to underscore its smart, compassionate folk cred, Smithsonian Folkways came on board to release the album. ~ Marcy Donelson

Tracklisting:

1.Little Wilma Wiggly Worm
2.Friends from All Around the World (Hello Version)
3.J-O-B
4.Requiem for Ruth Bader Ginsburg
5.A Builder’s Got a Hammer and Nails
6.Each One of Us
7.What’s Your Favorite Kind?
8.I’m a Nocturnal Animal
9.Paper Airplane
10.My Skull Is Made Outta Bone
11.Wave a Flag for Harvey Milk
12.Things That Go in the Recycling Bin
13.Roll Around Downtown
14.Deciduous Tree
15.We Build a Lot of Muscle as We Exercise
16.The Sounds that the Letters Make
17.Who Are You?
18.Together with You
19.Oona Louise, My Friend
20.Friends from All Around the World (Goodbye Version)