Growing Up Performed by Josh Lovelace
Josh Lovelace (of the adult rock group NEEDTOBREATHE) returns with a follow-up to his 2017 debut family album, Young Folk. On Growing Up singer-songwriter Lovelace captures universal life experiences that affect everyone no matter their age like friendship, family, the birth of a baby and saying goodbye to those we love. His solo voice is occasionally joined to great effect by children’s backing vocals on the twelve Americana-tinged rock songs in this collection. While there are plenty of hand-clapping and toe-tapping moments on this album, they are tempered by other tracks such as the gorgeous “You Are Loved,” “Let’s Go Drive” which captures the peaceful moments of unplanned family drives, and the beautiful blending of voices on the Frances England duet, “Butterfly” which encourages listeners to reach your light and follow your dreams.
A couple of unique moments are found toward the beginning of the album. The first is in the classic rock sounding “Traveling Band (When I Grow Up)” which tells the tale of a youngster who wants to be in a traveling band and lists a who’s who of performers – like Elton on the keys who makes the people want to shout – who could be in the band too. The second moment is the song “Calypso.” Unlike anything else on the album, it calls to mind ocean breezes and your toes in the sand as people in the neighborhood are encouraged to dance the calypso.
With Growing Up, Josh Lovelace has created that rare family album that sounds like adult music, has lyrics and melodies with kid appeal, and a production value that makes every song sound like it should be on the radio. A must have for family listening.
I have to admit that I was surprised and pretty excited to see a family album by Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough come across my desk. After listening to their music for the past twenty years, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this album. I wondered what Howie D’s take on music for families was going to be and how he was going to handle his association with The Backstreet Boys. Would he try to distance himself from the group in order to establish himself as a solo performer of music for children and not mention the group, or would he slide a quiet note of thanks into the liner notes? Well, there is a thank you note, but Howie D did so much more. He completely embraced his history with the group and played up his role as the “lesser known” Backstreet Boy with the amusing opening track, “Which One Am I?” Mixed in with questions asking if he’s that guy from that group (*NSYNC, Menudo) are fun lyrics that pay tribute to each of his Backstreet brothers.
On their newest album, 123 Andrés takes the letters of the Spanish alphabet and elevates them from a single song that teaches the order the letters come in, to 38 songs that give each letter and sound combination their own musical identity. The songs are arranged in alphabetical order and composed using the rhythms and sounds that are found throughout Latin America. Many of the tracks feature animals such as “Cinco cerditos,” “El guepado,” and “Katy la koala” or body parts like “Cabeza, codo, corazon” and “Con mis ojos” while others directly speak to the letter such as “La H no suena” and “Aqui está la Q.” Also included are songs about double letter sounds, “La C y la H chocaron” and “Las llaves” as well as a pair of songs about combinations of consonants – “Amigable” and “Gracias a la letra R.”