Leading
children's
music performer
Ella Jenkins
had been recording for the
Folkways
or
Smithsonian Folkways
labels for almost half a century by the time this tribute album was released in 2004. While it's true the artist lineup contains several of the usual suspects from the folkie
music world (
Cathy Fink
,
Tom Paxton
Tom Chapin
Pete Seeger
), it's obvious that a great deal of care was taken in making this a record that could hold up under its own merits, rather than a more common throwaway homage project. All of the songs were performed at some point by
Jenkins
in her own repertoire, and in addition to the usual kiddie
folk
singalongs, there are ventures into less expected arrangements --
gospel
(
Sweet Honey in the Rock
, who make
music about as soulful as it's going to get),
Latin
Michele Valeri
's
"Dulee, Dulee"
),
cowboy
Riders in the Sky
"Let's All Sing a Yodeling Song"
), and
mariachi
Mariachi los Camperos
'
"La Raspa/Fiesta de Ninos"
).
Rock
and
soul
fans might be surprised to hear lyrics quite similar to those in
Rufus Thomas
"Walking the Dog"
in
"Go Miss Mary Mack"
;
Paxton
throws in an amused reference to himself in
"I Know a Tom"
; and while
Seeger
's voice is almost worn out on
"The World Is Big, the World Is Small,"
he gets a lot of needed help from a robust actual children's chorus. As with virtually all tribute albums, many might prefer to hear these done by the original artist, but for a tribute collection the arrangements are more diverse than usual, and for those who care about such things, the sound quality and production clarity are better than they are on many of
' own recordings. The result is superior to both the standard tribute album and the standard
record. ~ Richie Unterberger