Covered In Kidfolk: WIN Elizabeth Mitchell’s new tribute to Woody Guthrie!
“A trailblazer in the world of gentle, truly beautiful folk interpretations of pop, rock, and classic children’s tunes for the younger set… anyone who has not purchased [Elizabeth] Mitchell’s first few albums cannot claim to have a functionally complete set of good kids music in their home.” (Cover Lay Down)
As noted above in a February 2011 feature on the local kidfolk scene, we’re huge fans of Elizabeth Mitchell here at Cover Lay Down: thanks to her pitch-perfect delivery and her penchant for coverage, the NY-based teacher-turned-performer has been a mainstay of our Covered in Kidfolk series since day one, and her delicate, lullaby-esque takes on songs both lovingly retuned and curiously transformed have peppered our tribute sets to artists from Neil Young and Gillian Welch to Lou Reed and Bob Marley. So although we were mildly critical of her last album Sunny Day, news of a new release from Mitchell – a headliner act on the kiddie circuit whose star has risen so far she now hosts the Family Stage at the Newport Folk Festival – is good news, indeed.
But having steeped in it over the last 48 hours, I’m pleased to announce that Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie is a career highlight from a well-admired artist: a full-length tribute to the kidsong canon of none other than Woody Guthrie himself, featuring eight newly-recorded tracks and five previously issued favorites, to be released on Smithsonian Folkways on July 10th in honor of what would have been Guthrie’s 100th birthday; a collection of short songs that soar like tiny birds, sure to stick in the throat and linger in the heart of parents and children alike.
Like Songs To Grow On For Mother & Child, the seminal 1947 children’s folk album from which it pulls the majority of its source materials, Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie is designed to be a family affair – not just for kids, but for adults to enjoy with kids. In this context, the tribute is apt and adept, with Guthrie’s simple tunes and often quite sparse lyrics gracefully and honestly remade, beautiful in arrangement and execution: a strong contender for kidfolk album of the year, come December.
Her inclusion of harmonies from daughter Storey, cousin Penney, friends Amy Helm and Ruth Ungar, and husband Daniel Littleton, alongside tinkly pianos, funky percussion, fiddle drones, and subtle strummed guitars, make the perfect setting for a family celebration of songs that raised a generation of folkies and rabblerousers. The universal, timeless subjects they evoke – rain, land, grass, sky; work, play, music, sleep – prove the viability of the form, and then set a new standard for it. And for those of us who grew up on the originals, the album is a delight, illuminating the child within.
While you’ll have to wait until the release date to order direct from the label, thanks to the kind curators at Smithsonian Folkways, we’ve got a copy of this amazing tribute to kidfolk and canon to give away to a lucky listener. To enter for a chance to win Little Seed: Songs For Children by Woody Guthrie, just name your favorite kidfolk tune in the comments; we’ll pick a random winner sometime on Sunday. And make sure to include your email address, so we can contact you if you win.
In the meanwhile, listen and sing along to this pair of new recordings from Little Seed, an older video of a Guthrie tune repurposed for this new collection, and a long-overdue tribute to the coverfolk of Elizabeth Mitchell. Embrace the child, inner and alongside.
- Elizabeth Mitchell: This Land Is Your Land (orig. Woody Guthrie)
- Elizabeth Mitchell: Bling Blang (orig. Woody Guthrie)
[from Little Seed: Songs For Children by Woody Guthrie, 2012]
- Elizabeth Mitchell: Blue Sky (orig. Allman Brothers)
[from Putumayo Kids Presents: Acoustic Dreamland, 2011]
- Elizabeth Mitchell: Keep On The Sunny Side (orig. The Carter Family)
[from Sunny Day, 2010]
- Elizabeth Mitchell: Little Wing (orig. Neil Young)
- Elizabeth Mitchell: What Goes On (orig. Velvet Underground)
[from You Are My Little Bird, 2006]
- Elizabeth Mitchell & Lisa Loeb: Big Rock Candy Mountain (orig. Harry McClintock)
[from Catch The Moon, 2003]
- Elizabeth Mitchell: You Are My Sunshine (orig. Jimmie Davis)
[from You Are My Sunshine, 2002]
- Elizabeth Mitchell: This Little Light Of Mine (trad.)
[from You Are My Flower, 1998]
Elizabeth Mitchell: Grassy Grass Grass (orig. Woody Guthrie)
Category: Elizabeth Mitchell, Kidfolk 15 comments »
June 28th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Mr. Sun by Raffi, LOL!
June 28th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Favorite kidfolk tune is probably Elizabeth Mitchell’s ‘You Are My Sunshine’
June 28th, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I’m a huge fan of Elizabeth Mitchell in general, and I especially love her version of “Down in the Valley,” which my grandfather sings to all the babies in our family.
June 28th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Grassy Grass Grass from Elizabeth Mitchell’s You Are My Little Bird
June 28th, 2012 at 7:24 pm
I also like Elizabeth Mitchell a lot, but right now my favorite song is Abiola by Ellis Paul.
June 28th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Love Elizabeth Mitchell singing Bling Blang
June 28th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Gotta be Elizabeth Mitchell: You Are My Sunshine (orig. Jimmie Davis)
June 28th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Trout Fishing in America, particularly “I Think I’ll Need a Bandaid.”
June 29th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Belly Button by Connie Kaldor! Does that count?
Otherwise, You are my Sunshine.
June 30th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Family Tree by Tom Chapin
June 30th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
“Oh Susannah,” Gray Sky Girls.
June 30th, 2012 at 10:21 pm
Hmm – Elizabeth singing Green Green Rocky Road with Dan Zanes, So Glad I’m Here, and School Day’s are all being played constantly. I’ll go with So Glad I’m Here.
July 2nd, 2012 at 6:32 pm
All excellent choices – and some surprises, too! Congrats to Chris, whose number (8 of 12) was selected randomly using http://www.random.org/playing-cards/
July 5th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
I also like Elizabeth Mitchell Oh Susannah,” Gray Sky Girls.
July 6th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
I saw she and natalie merchant do a version of Bowie’s Kooks and Everyday People with a children’s choir at a breast cancer benefit last Oct near Kingston NY.