Dan Zanes and Friends

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For at least a year there was only one CD in play at our house: Rocket Ship Beach, the first release from Dan Zanes's Festival Five Records. It appeared courtesy of my husband and his relentless quest to fill our time, ears, and hearts with song. Lots of children's music is absolute garbage — screeching choruses of zip-a-dee-do-dah or wheels-on-the-bus contrived to maintain a separation between adult and child. At our house we celebrate and dance with our children. Like all children, they can tell when you're in on the party and when you'd rather be doing something else.

The funky title track from Zanes's latest, House Party, with accompaniment on both acoustic guitar and a comical tuba, opens invitingly with "Ring, ring, doorbell ring, it's house party time — / Everyone's invited — / We're all going to rock and swing and dine." Near the end of the disc, Zanes plays a little yodeling love song / lullaby, accompanying himself on Autoharp and guitar. It calls that raw stream of pure love for my children right to the surface every time I hear and sing it: