Simply Suzi: music for kids

Simply Suzi: music for kids

by Suzi Shelton

Suzi Shelton's debut solo album contains beautiful original songs and contemporary folk arrangements great for singing along to in the car, or snuggling at home. Suzi's angelic voice is accompanied by her young son on selected tracks. Listeners will also hear acoustic and electric guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, violin, drums, conga, tambourine, and flute.

This recording balances fast-paced songs and calming ballads. The only instrumental piece on the album, Runabout is an upbeat-but-controlled tempo that lives up to its name and will get kids moving. The next song, Ten Thousand Kisses slows the pace way down with a touching love song from Suzi to her son. Many of the songs have repeating choruses or phrases to help little ones follow along and join in sooner. Suzi's own little one, Sabastien, even joins in on a few songs, including 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Mama Won't You Give Me a Kiss? Other children's voices join Suzi in The Little Turtle. The songs are about issues that kids deal with and care about, whether its sitting at the table having to finish your vegetables before you get dessert, knowing your mother's touch can heel anything, or dreaming about all the different things you can be when you grow up.

The lyrics are also fun and will stoke listener's imaginations. For instance, One Day on the Porch is sung from the perspective of a little boy telling his mom all the different things he wants to do when he grows up. Go ahead and prompt your child to also share all the things they want to be when they're older. Little listeners can also clap along with the Suzi to the beat in So Long Chocolate Cake; they can "fiddle a fee" with the cat in each verse of Bought Me a Cat; and they can clap their hands, stomp their feet, jump up and down, and spin around in Time To Say Hello.

Suzi Shelton's CDs and DVD have won awards from Parents' Choice, the Children's Music Web, iParenting Media and a 2007 Gold Award from the National Parenting Publications.

Shelton got her professional start in New York as part of children's music band, called The Imagination Workshop. She left the band to pursue her solo career, and gleans song ideas and inspiration from her husband and two children. On her albums, Shelton is often accompanied by Steve Elliot on the guitar, Matt Clohesy on the bass, and Rob Heath on the drums. Shelton's backup singers include her 11-year-old son, Sebastian, and/or the enthusiastic group of child singers, "The Gumdrops".

Shelton and her accompanying musicians have performed at impressive venues such as The Lincoln Center Tree Lighting Ceremony, Cain Park, Symphony Space, 92Y Tribeca, The Knitting Factory, The White House, Madison Square Park, Battery Park City, Tribeca Film Festival, Bethlehem Musikfest, The Jewish Museum, The Brooklyn Children's Museum, The Portland Children's Museum, The Bell House and Southpaw.