Music for the Whole Family

Music has always been important in our house. I just can't get any work done without music playing (and usually cranked up). My children like it too. One problem we have is that I don't really like their music and they aren't always jazzed about mine.

We are big Hot Buttered Rum fans. They have an album out called Campfire Sing Along were they joined Orange Sherbert for some fun kids songs. This is an album that we all like to listen to. My kids actually like to listen to the Grateful Dead too. They think that Sugar Magnolia and Monkey and the Engineer are kids tunes.

But we have recently been getting into Dan Zanes. Dan Zanes is an excellent kids music performer. With his crazy hair and just plain cool attitude, he rocks out some fun music for kids. Dan was in the Rock n Roll band the Del Fuegos in the 1980's but started playing family music after the birth of his daughter.

We are really excited to see Dan Zanes and Friends in a couple of weeks when their tour comes through Colorado with kid friendly concerts in Boulder and Fort Collins. This is a Sunday afternoon that all four of us are really looking forward to. We plan to sing along and dance our booties off.

Some really exciting news is that Amazon.com along with Festival Five Records is offering a free MP3 download of Dan Zanes' music. This is a digital sampler with many of Dan's greatest hits called Smile Smile Smile. The sampler includes the popular songs Catch that Train, House Party, Colas, Hello, Pay Me My Money Down, Jump Up, Down in the Valley, and Smile Smile Smile.

Don't miss this opportunity to get some free music for the whole family. You'll be glad you did when your kids are singing and dancing all over the house and you catch yourself doing a little hip shake too.