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The Dreyer Family Band - Family Photograph
A Family Project Turns Into a Kids' Music Masterpiece

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By Warren Truitt, About.com

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Courtesy Mighty Toad Music

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Two families from opposite coasts combined to make an album "not FOR kids, but includes them...from the perspective of all family members." And, I must say, they successfuly achieved their goal. The Dreyer Family Band's Family Photograph turned out to be some of the best kids' music of 2009.

The Band

Annie and Matt Dreyer decided to write a few songs that commemorated the day-to-day adventures of their family, and those few turned into almost 20 in no time. They traveled cross country to brother Craig Dreyer's Mighty Toad Recording Studio in Brooklyn, where they got everybody in the family to contribute to Family Photograph, as well as musical friends like Boo Reiners (guitars, banjo), Whynot Jansveld (electric bass), Tom Petrycha (standup bass), Jason Pharr (drums), Elena Skye (mandolin), Ismail Bruno (congas & bongos), Paul Tillotson (piano), Tim Ouimette (trumpet & trombone), and Rick Crisca (sax, flute & clarinet).

The Music

Family Photograph begins with a short a cappella hand-clapping rhyme, fading into a shufflin' roadhouse blues tune that celebrates the safe haven of everyone's "Home." The Curtis Mayfield groove of "Loud House" describes how the sounds of the city sometimes get in the way of nap time, while the red-hot rockabilly of "Mad" admits that our tempers get the best of us all at sometime or another.

The food metaphor-filled "Cutie Baby" gives up the love for tiny tots via vaudeville jazz, and "The I Love You Song" simply should be a radio hit, a tune that Jimmy Buffett would be jealous of. Dig the cosmic lyrics of the tropicália jam "Glitter," and the silly words of the ragtime song "Boo-Hoo."

More Music

Parents will amen the lyrics of the awesome "You Get What You Get," a song that sounds like Dr. John playing on The Muppet Show, and everyone will pick up on the good vibes of the Caribbean-flavored "Peace and Love". The old-school country storysong "Totem Party" tells the tale of a forest shindig, and "How To Be Happy" (listen to the lyrics, what a wonderful message!) could be a companion to It's A Beautiful Day's "White Bird."

"Imagination" is a great pop song about the awesome power of a kid's mind, while "Big Green Tree" is a bluegrass tribute to our leafy friends. "Covers" is a tender, soft-shoe lullaby, while "Photograph" sounds like one of those great tunes Richard Manuel used to write for The Band, one of the best songs you'll hear all year, no matter what genre. The album ends with "Family Photograph," the original incarnation of "Photograph," a percussion-powered a cappella family sing-along.

The Verdict

Now, on paper it may sound like the Dreyers did a lot of genre-hopping on Family Photograph, but the family's performances and Craig Dreyer's production skills pull everything together and give the album a cohesive, distinct sound. Earthy, funny, sincere, silly, knowing, and musically right on, the tunes on Family Photograph'll find an audience with at least one, and probably every, member of your own family. Some of the best kids' music of 2009.

Released April 28, 2009; Mighty Toad Music