From an adult perspective, this tape is amazing. The playing is superb and intelligent, the lyrics are sincere, heartfelt, and often pull-your-leg funny. Grisman and Garcia play with and off each other beautifully.

The musical skill here is extremely high, but feels unforced and simple.

For example, listen to the song "Arkansas Traveller" about an encounter between a city slicker and a country bumpkin:

Slicker: Well, hello stranger.

Bumpkin: Why, hello stranger!

Slicker: Yer corn looks awful little and yeller.

Bumpkin: I planted the little and yeller kind.

[cue duet]

Listen to the banjo and mandolin duet of turkey in the straw; the playing is quite intricate and beautiful.

What's right about this tape: it entertains and engages without once stooping to dull playing or insincere, tired singing. Unlike Raffi, for example, this tape never feels like an act.

Recommended for any kid. Also, any adult who likes good acoustic or folk guitar. This is a tape I play all the time, whether or not kids are around.

--Pat

* Please, no hate mail from all 15 of you adult Raffi fans. I know the lyrics to Baby Beluga and I'm not afraid to use them.

11 of 11 found the following review helpful:


Uncle Jerry, Uncle David  May 29, 1998
The late Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist for The Grateful Dead, was never known for the kind of upbeat vocals typically associated with children's music. Still, this sincere album offers a very appealing assortment of toe-tapping American folk tunes whose simple lyrics and old-fashioned harmonies appeal to the kid in all of us. "Uncle Jerry's" acoustic guitar picking is the perfect companion to David Grisman's plucky banjo and marvelous mandolin. The album's selections evoke a summer jam session on your porch, where friends join in at times with fiddle, harmonica--and sometimes piano. (Ok, ok, so the piano wouldn't exactly fit on the porch.) The album closes with a heartfelt rendition of the melancholy river song, Shenandoah, shyly sung by Garcia ("Away, I'm bound away, across the wide Missouri...") This sailor's worksong melts gracefully into Brahm's lullaby with a radiant string assemble lead by Grisman's brilliant mandolin, making for a very sweet sign-off.

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


for kids of all ages  Feb 24, 2004 By Matt Greer
This is a great album. It's a whole lot of fun. It's really just Jerry and Dave doing a bunch of kids songs. I don't have any kids so I can't really tell you how well this goes over with little ones; but then that should also tell you how nice this album is for adults.

This album features the bluegrass, twangy sound that Garcia and Grisman became known for. It's really no different there. But unlike just about all their other albums, this one you can sing along really loud and have a blast doing it. Good stuff.

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:


A Great Album For Kids and their Parents  Mar 15, 2000 By Jonathan Keller
All I can say is my daughter loves it, and I love playing it for her. The songs are catchy and fun, and Jerry and Dave's voices are such a pleasure to listen to, especially after suffering though Elmo, Barney and Friends, and other "kid's recordings". Also, exposing children to the music of Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman is a very good for them, and it gives me a thrill to see my child enjoying their music, just like I do.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:


Better than Xanax for babies  Apr 04, 2003 By J. Wheelis "jwheelis"
This CD calmed our newborn son into quietude by the end of the opening bars of "Jenny Jenkins" every single time. Garcia and Grisman's voices are so gentle and soothing that it's calming for young ones, and their wit and humor never disappoints the adults.

I have a theory about kids and banjo music: I have yet to find a child who doesn't respond positively to it, and I think it's because it's rhythmic, quiet and silly at the same time. People who associate him primarily with his endless Grateful Dead guitar jams may not know that Jerry Garcia was a very skilled banjo picker. David Grisman's mandolin adds harmony and a faraway soulful sound, a perfect combination for the traditional songs on this album.

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