CD Review: Kid Pan Alley

Kid Pan Alley is an amazing project started by songwriter Paul Reisler. He holds collaborative songwriting workshops in elementary schools, bringing top artists and writers into classrooms to help the kids create their own songs.

For this CD, children in Nashville worked with such songwriters as Beth Nielsen Chapman and Bill Lloyd, then helped match the tunes with some of the city's best singers, including Suzy Bogguss, Amy Grant, Delbert McClinton, and Kix Brooks. The kids then got to watch and participate in the recording sessions!

So how does it all sound? It flows surprisingly well, a strong collection of country, pop, reggae, rock, and even Dixieland jazz. The lyrics are incredibly sweet and endearing, even more so when you know that the kids were involved in every step of the creative process.

My kids love listening to this disc in the car. It's easy for them to relate to these tunes because they come right from the minds of kids their own age. I highly recommend this disc. It's one of those CDs that we'll be listening to long after we've outgrown other children's music.

Click here to buy Kid Pan Alley at Amazon.

Listen to a track... "Stinky Socks" by Lari White & Kid Pan Alley: