Not For Kids Only: 10 Childrens Albums/Artists that are Surprisingly Good

Let's Go Everywhere - Medeski Marin & Wood

I love Medeski Martin & Wood. They have been largely responsible for renewing interest in the funky jazz trio format for a new, younger generation and are now targeting an even younger crowd with equally successful results. This album does add vocals to their sound for the kiddies but also has some of the regular instrumental grooves that fans have become accustomed to. The original title track even sounds a lot like it could have been swiped right off of a Johnny Cash album.

For The Kids - Various Artists

I haven’t personally had a chance to check this album out and, although I’m not a fan of every contributing artist on here, there is a track from Billy Bragg & Wilco and another one from Tom Waits. That alone puts it far beyond any Barney and Friends albums that has been or ever will be manufactured.

Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George - Jack Johnson

I’m not really a fan of Jack Johnson but I like Curious George. Plus, the key word here is “compromise”. My niece loves this album and you could be listening to a whole lot worse than this.

Baby Gramps

Baby Gramps has been performing for decades and, although I don’t know if he has actually made a “childrens album” per se, his music is definitely child friendly. If you do buy an album of his, look for the song titled “Palindromes”. The entire song is actually made up of palindromes which are formed from actual sentences. I swear it, and they are lengthy ones at that.

They Might Be Giants

To anyone who is familiar with the music of TMBG, it should be no surprise that this duo was able to switch over to producing successful children albums. Songs from their regular “non-kids” albums have been featured on the Warner Bros. cartoon Animaniacs in the 90’s already. You could probably dice up some of their other albums and pull tracks from them that your kids will love as well but, based on the amount of lyrics that children are able to absorb and repeat and, the fact that some content is a little more adult, it might not always be the best idea.

You shouldn’t have to do that anyway, because these guys have pumped out quite a few kid-focused albums over the last few years. A couple of them even come with DVDs.

The CD that comes with this book also features an appearance from Kimya Dawson

It’s Johnny Cash folks! What more do you really want from a kids album?

Anti-folk songwriter Kimya Dawson gained a much deserved audience over the past year due to her substantial contributions to the Juno motion picture soundtrack. Although the music on the soundtrack was written years ago and much of her work, especially the stuff created with her old band The Moldy Peaches, isn’t exactly “Kid friendly”, the material on Alphabutt is fresh and is directly targeted for younger audiences.

Kimya’s daughter Panda is definitely responsible for much of the inspiration behind this album and I can tell you first hand that she is a terrific person with a lot of compassion. An accompanying book for the album is also currently in the works.

"Not For Kids Only" - Jerry Garcia & David Grisman

This album is great and is on the top of my list. In fact, I used to listen to this all the time when I was still a teenager with no kids in sight. Those of you who are fans of Garcia/Grisman’s work on albums like “Shady Grove” and “The Pizza Tapes” will love this album too. For those of you who still have a limited and misguided conception of Garcia’s work, get this for your kids. There’s a really good chance that you may like it so much that you will seek out the other work they’ve done together for yourself.

The Barenaked Ladies put together a pretty solid album here with “Snack Time”. It’s not like I would listen to this on my own without children, like I would with the Garcia Grisman or MMW albums, but it’s great if you do have kids around. They don’t over do the upbeat quirky songs on here to the point where it will drive you nuts. They really spread the tempo around. Plus, the second song on here, which has a slight Elvis Costello vibe to it, is all about Ninjas. That’s right….Ninjas!

Dan Zanes

The former Del Fuegos frontman has created a legitimate phenomenon with his childrens albums. Kids love him… moms love him. Dan Zanes and friends are like the Beatles for toddlers. The amount of frenzy that this guy generates is borderline ridiculous but the guest appearances that he has on his records are quite impressive. Everyone from Lou Reed to Bob Weir (The Grateful Dead) have appeared on them.