In the meantime, a new lullaby album was just released that has a version of "Edelweiss" that I sang and played guitar & mandolin on. If you'd told me that I'd be singing a song from "The Sound of Music" nine years ago, it wouldn't have been pretty. [sidenote: I have never seen the movie all the way through. Bits and pieces? Sure. In one sitting? Never.] But it's a really pretty song and, hey, if it's good enough for The Innocence Mission [champions of Leo's lullaby playlist], it's good enough for me. I also played some banjo on our good friend Ryan Tanner's excellent version of the great Wilco song, My Darling.
You can download the album on iTunes here. Or go to Walmart.com or DeseretBook.com for an actual copy. If you love it, give it a review.
The album was produced by Scott Wiley [who also produced both of my albums, as well as albums by Atherton, Band of Annuals, Sunfall Festival, Sarah Sample, Matt Harding, Kalai, Jerrytown, Chris Merritt, and the list goes on] with his usual smart, creative production on a broad range of songs from Disney to Wilco to Beatles and back. As usual he made extremely thoughtful choices- from the instrumentation to the song choices to the singers. Really, this is not your standard, expected fare. And the freightliner guitar makes an appearance.
The list of singers reads like a list of some of my favorites. Amy Gileadi [Sunfall Festival, lovedigit] brings her gorgeous, engaging singing to a few songs. Dominic's version of "Hush Little Baby" kills me. KILLS. ME. So good. And Libbie Linton's "When You Wish Upon A Star" is just insanely good. A super cool interpretation that inevitably leaves me reaching for Repeat. Toss Marcus Bently, Becky Jean Williams [The Mollies, Late Night Alumni], and Mindy Gledhill in there, and you get some pretty great performances.
It's the third in a series. Many of you, with little kids, might already have the first two editions with their horrendous cover art [Long story, but suffice it to say, it's not Scott's fault]. The album's not just great at putting kids to sleep, it's also great on its own terms.
This one is more secular/nonreligious than the first two. The first one, A Child's Prayer features many of the same singers and is all LDS and traditional Christian hymns and Primary songs. It's a respectful, modern update of these songs. There are zero children's choirs and zero distorted, chugging guitars being played by at-risk emo kids. I sang "Jesus Once Was A Little Child" with Scott on harmony for this one. Becky's take on "Beautiful Savior" is gorgeous and brings out a little of an unexpected Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger-ness in the lyrics.
Mary's Lullaby, the second CD, is a collection of Christmas carols, produced beautifully with Scott's understated sensibility and creative way of reaching outside the expected. I contributed an arrangement of "Little Drummer Boy" in a Bowie/Bing re-creation with Amy playing the part of Bowie. I also played guitar and sang background vocals on Sarah Sample's version of "Joy To The World." Marcus' version of "Silent Night" is pretty dreamy and I've always loved Amy/Sunfall's "Still, Still, Still."
Try them out. Your kids and your quiet nights will thank you. You [gasp] might even really like them.
The next time I sell you something, it'll be my cd. Crazy.
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