Dan Zanes and Friends - Little Nut Tree

Little Nut Tree, the latest release by Dan Zanes and Friends, is pretty much everything you would expect from Dan Zanes, now a 10-year veteran of the kindie rock genre. Excellent song choices, great original tunes, earthy performances, and lots of twangy guitar vibrato grow and flourish on Little Nut Tree, one of the best kids' music albums of 2011.

As many kids’ music fans know by now, Dan Zanes is considered the father of the modern independent kids' music movement. After his band The Del Fuegos broke up at the beginning of the 1990s, Zanes spent the next few years playing around Manhattan with Jerry Marotta and former Del Fuegos producer Mitchell Froom as The Dan Zanes Trio. After becoming a dad in the mid-'90s, Zanes found (as did many parents of his generation) there was a serious drought of quality kids' music available in record stores. So, when a cassette of Zanes and fellow NYC dad/musicians performing kids' music got lots of attention on the playgrounds of the West Village, a lightbulb went off in Zanes' head. Zanes decided to record his own children's albums at home and release them under his umbrella corporation, Festival Five, beginning with 2000's Rocket Ship Beach. By enlisting friends, babysitters, and well-known musicians to play and sing along, Zanes kept the album professional, but loose and fun. Zanes followed up with Family Dance and Night Time, both from 2002, House Party in 2003, and the Grammy Award-winning Catch That Train! in 2006.

On Little Nut Tree Zanes gets help from some of his musical friends, including Andrew Bird, who recently contributed to The Muppets’ The Green Album; Sharon Jones from The Dap-Kings; and ‘90’s Top 40 artist Joan Osborne. Other guest stars on Little Nut Tree are The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, The Harmony Project, and long-time collaborators Jamaican rapper and singer Father Goose as well as children’s book illustrator Donald Saaf.

Dan Zanes and The Dap-Kings’ Sharon Jones kick off Little Nut Tree with the smoky groove of “In the Basement,” an R&B classic made famous by Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto. Another great cover song includes the title track “Little Nut Tree,” originally performed by The Melodians, and performed here with West African group The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars.

Dan Zanes and Friends always include a mix of popular and obscure traditional tunes on their albums, and the songs found on Little Nut Tree are no exception. The band, featuring Barbara Brousal, perform a slowed down version of the bluegrass classic “Saro Jane;” while a loping, half-time version of the camp song “John Kanakanaka,” features The Sea Rascals. Father Goose helps out with a version of the Jamaican tune “Hill and Gully Rider,” while Bonga sings on the ancient Hatian folk tune “La Siren.” Other oldies include “Jim Along Josie,” again featuring Father Goose; the Populist tune “The Farmer is the One;” and the traditional hymn “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere,” which would have fit in nicely on Zanes’ 2008 gospel compilation The Welcome Table: Songs of Mystery, Inspiration, and Good Times. And Zanes' and Tareq Abboushi's "Salaam" is a nice, quiet way to end a day.

Little Nut Tree showcases several Dan Zanes original compositions, including “I Don’t Need Sunny Skies,” featuring the vocals, whistling skills, and violin of Andrew Bird; and the Memphis rave up “Everybody’s Going to be Happy,” which sees Joan Osborne lending her vocal talents to the mix. “Thank You” is an island-kissed ode of gratitude for all things great in this world, while the rockin’ “Wake Up Baby!” features the spirited vocals of Shawana “Shine” Kemp. And dig the back porch wistfulness of “Summer Trains,” the sort of tune at which David Grisman and Jerry Garcia were so adept. Of course Zanes’ writing and performing styles fall right in line with the timelessness of the traditional tunes on the album.

Full of spirit, history, good vibes, and great performances, Dan Zanes’ Little Nut Tree contains some of the best kids’ music of 2011. His live performances are a visual and aural event not to be missed, so check the Dan Zanes and Friends website for tour updates. I’m sure they will be playing some of your favorites from Little Nut Tree and other Dan Zanes albums from the past.

Released September 27, 2011; Festival Five Records

Track Listing

1. "In the Basement"
2. "Jim Along Josie"
3. "Summer Trains"
4. "Wake Up Baby!"
5. "John Kanakanaka"
6. "Little Nut Tree"
7. "I Don't Need Sunny Skies"
8. "Saro Jane"
9. "La Siren"
10. "Everybody's Going to be Happy"
11. "The Farmer is the One"
12. "Thank You"
13. "Hill and Gully Rider"
14. "Red Tail Hawk"
15. "Salaam"
16. Beautiful Isle of Somewhere"