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The songs are refreshing and don't torture you to listen to as so many are. Both my 2 year old and 4 year old enjoy the songs.
I would recommend this c.d. This is music I would listen to alone and it is an absolute delight to share it with my kids. As a parent, this is one of those fabulous bonuses. to anyone. It makes my heart bounce to hear them singing Pete Seeger and begging for more of it. It opened so many doors to musical exploration. kids, no kids. it is fabulous, timeless music.
I play this cd in my classroom as a treat and the kids love it. I teach kindergarten through 5th grade music and every class loves this cd. They even request it. This cd helps broaden their view of music beyond hannah montana and high school musical.
Now in fairness, I do think half of the tracks on here would hold the interest of kids under age five, at least for a few listens. It is uneven, and the international world culture tracks on here, at least to me, clashed with the American traditional songs. This is one of the least successful efforts by the normally superb Smithsonian producers who comb the archives of Folkways Records to re-issue performancs from the 1940's through the '70's in new combinations. Most of these recordings, however, belong to an era in which television was non-existent or primitive, and somebody in every house played either guitar, banjo or piano and sang for family entertainment. Part of the problem here is that children today grow up way too fast, and most kids older than five would be bored by this collection. I know six-year-old girls who are already enamored of "Hanna Montana" and who have already seen the DVD of "Rent" and "Phantom of the Opera" and who have memorized "High School Musical." Woody Guthrie's "Riding in my Car" or Pete Seeger's "I had a Rooster" just won't cut it with today's pre-pre-pre teen crowd. It was in some ways, a better culture, with stay-at-home moms and more active kids, and in some ways, worse (racism, sexism, smoking, poverty, and such). I hate to believe this, but unless you have an adult who can sing these songs live for kids, I don't see any point in buying this for today's hip toddlers.
There are some really ho-hum songs as well which I personally can't stand, but it beats the Wigglez any day. As a parent who is trying to get his kids into older American folk music, this is a good fit. There are lots of good, fun songs on here like Woody Guthrie's "Car Song" (or whatever it's called) and Leadbelly's song that my 1 year old likes. There are a few songs about working in a coal mine which some people might see as a "downer", but facts is facts and it's an interesting point for older listeners who might be interested in hearing that they used to make kids work in the mines. Overall, I like this collection as it's a good representation of early American music that's easy on parents' ears.
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