I Love Winter!

We love winter at our house! Please enjoy this video of friends and family taking in all the joys of the season in our backyard--every year we celebrate the family traditions of building a "sled run" into the woods and shovelling off the pond for skating.

The music in the video is an instrumental version of "I Love Boating" followed by "Rippling Waters"--both are available on my CD Too Tall. You can download "I Love Boating" for free at the Smartboater website, hosted by the Canadian Safe Boating Council.

I'd love to hear about what other people are doing to have fun this winter--please send your stories to andrewqueenistootall@gmail.com

Happy Winter!

Too Tall

Our Family's "Playlist"

People often say that our kids are so lucky to have such a musical dad. Truth be told, Ivan (7) and Lewis (4) often say, “Daddy, can you please stop singing that?” They are extremely musical kids and definitely dictate the majority of music choices in our car, as well as when and where Andrew can rehearse. I’d love to share our family’s top picks for music from some really great "kindie" artists. And as a wife/manager of a family act, I can honestly say that all these folks are extremely hard-working, put a lot of effort into their performances, and really love to make great music for kids/everybody (because they're definitely not doing it for the $$$!).

1. Jon Samson/Cocreative Music—like no kids’ music you’ve heard before, totally fresh and groovy, with a Jeff Buckley-ish voice that makes me swoon… Check out “Nothing Rhymes with Orange” and “The Conductor.”
   
2. Charlie Hope—has one of the loveliest/sweetest/ear-pleasin’ voices around… Check out “Train Song” and “I’m Me.”
3. Ratboy Jr.—just plain likeable and fun--makes me nostalgic for the skateboarding friends from high school… “Never-Melting Snowman” and “Dirt” are family faves.
   
4. The Monkey Bunch—they are up for a Juno next month for “Power to the Little People”—the album is an eccentric/eclectic/electric experience from start to finish--highly recommended! We love “Don’t Let Your Cars Idle” and “Poopie Diaper.”
   
5. The Funky Mamas—same kind of genre as Andrew’s music, folky/bluegrassy feel with great harmonies, friendliness and joy. They are in the midst of recording their third album—check out “Alligator Romp” and “”Go Bananas!”

Hope you love these bands as much as we do, and help support these artists by going to their shows and buying their CDs! And get your kids listening to great music!

~Karen

p.s. Andrew will start recording his third album in March! It's all about food and chock full of originals!