myKaZoo Music released Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie, Randy Kaplan‘s child friendly versions of country blues and ragtime numbers from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. The new CD, featuring extensive liner notes so that kids may learn more about America’s musical heritage, was released on July 10. Kaplan’s music videos are featured on myKaZooTV, the music video channel for kids.
Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie includes 17 songs first performed by legendary blues musicians reworked by Kaplan, making them appropriate for the under-12 set without losing the grit and humor of the originals. New titles to these old songs include Ice Cream Man Rag, Runaway Blues, In a Timeout Now, and Kindhearted Babysitter Blues. Various segments on the album are introduced by the craggy voice of Lightin’ Bodkins, a Delta denizen who has seen it all. He tells listeners about the Fathers of the Blues, introducing blocks of songs and adding his two cents wherever he feels like it.
This post was originally written by Ali Mierzejewski and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.