An all-star cast that boasts the likes of Dwight Yoakam, Ryan Adams and Alison Krauss sings of children's favorite subjects: dogs, frogs, pigs and trucks (among others). In an author's note, Sandra Boynton (Philadelphia Chickens) tells of a childhood chock full of "a hundred different Cowboy programs"; with this album, co-created with longtime songwriting and producing partner Michael Ford, she tips her 10-gallon hat to some of their theme songs.
Boynton wrote all the lyrics for these 12 songs and soloed on the music for many of them; Ford co-wrote the music for five of the dozen and does backup vocals and instrumentals for some. In Part One, youngest children may follow along with the music (there's a CD tucked in a durable pouch affixed to the inside front cover). This first section highlights--in large type--a verse or two and the refrain of each song, plus Boynton's full-page illustration of its subject (featuring her signature animal characters). The full lyrics, melody and chord progressions appear in Part Two (a small frog in the lower right-hand corner of each song in Part One points to the page number), and Part Three simulates a scrapbook with photos and biographies of the vocalists and musicians.
The album opens with Dwight Yoakam's ballad of a dog named Hank ("I've Got a Dog"), who howls to his crooner-owner's "lonesome song" and won't win a prize for "being dog-pretty," but the pooch comes through: he sticks by his human's side. A plucked string imitates a canine whining sound, and the spoons performed by Peter and Gordon Scott evoke the do-si-do of the best friends' dance. The Fountains of Wayne extol the virtues of "big trucks and little trucks and long trucks and tall," for "delivery or long-haul." A "downshift" in "Trucks" lowers the key for the singers, while a command to "throw it into fifth" leads to a modulation up. Boynton pictures a pig in shades at the wheel of a red pick-up filled to capacity with apples. Later in the songbook/album, more than a dozen of Boynton's porkers star in Ryan Adams's wistful interpretation of "When Pigs Fly."
Boynton and Ford vary tempos and tones beautifully. They follow up the soulful "Heartache Song," performed by Kacey Musgraves, and "When Pigs Fly" with a honky-tonk tune called "Broken Piano" (sung by Ben Folds) and the hilarious "Copycat," for which kids will attempt to keep pace with lead singer Brad Paisley trying to shake off the relentless feline chorus sporting identical hats and green guitars. Boynton also shakes it up with choreography for "The Alligator Stroll" (a chicken crashes the reptiles' line dance) and tips on "How to Talk Like a Cowboy."
In Boynton's equivalent of liner notes, which teachers and musicians will regard as a treasured process log, she reveals that Alison Krauss was the first artist they signed to the project, for the elegant "End of a Summer Storm." The musicians' stellar work on this selection led Boynton and Ford to request that they play the entire album. With the variety of voices, moods and rhythms, these musicians provide the through line, along with Boynton's playful illustrations and design. Yee-ha! --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: This fabulous music book–and-CD set features an array of country-western ballads and honky-tonk tunes, boasts Boynton's beloved animal characters and stars a who's who of the country music scene.