ChiIL Mama Win A Disc Wednesday: The Flannery Brothers Free 12 Song Album and The New Explorers Release

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Bonnie Kenaz-Mara
ChiIL Out

The Flannery Brothers

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Oh yeah. We really dig these guys! First off, here's the super good news. This week everyone's a winner. The Flannery Brothers are generous dudes, and they've given me a link so you--not just one of you per week--but ALL ofYOU can download 12 free songs. Just click HERE and Dance Songs 4 Silly Kids is yours.

Now for the other super good news... ChiIL Mama has 3 copies of The Flannery Brothers brand new disc, The New Explorers Club, for you to explore. Here are 13 upbeat, danceable tracks and a fun poster, too. Enter to win 1 this week through Tuesday midnight and we'll save the other two for when you least expect it. Then, woo hoo, you'll have yet another chance to win.

The 3rd time's certainly a charm for these 3, but then again, their 1st two releases were pretty darn charming, too. They won 13 prestigious awards including a Parents' Choice Silver Honor Award and the Lennon Award for Best Children's Song in the 2008 John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

All of us enjoy their award winning music and fun sense of humor. My favorite, hands down, is the second track, Swallowed A Bug. Admit it. It's happened to all of us. But who woulda thunk to write a whole rockin' song about it and how to avoid freaking out when it happens to you?! I'll tell ya who. Mike, Jonathan and Dan.

I'm a sucker for clever word play, and amid the plethora of pirates ballads, this one, Pirate or Parrot, is particularly witty and wonderful. Sagezilla and Du-Jay were uncharacteristically engrossed and didn't say "Blech, skip this one, or ahhhh fast forward!" for any of it. They were too busy dancing, laughing and enjoying it. The CD skews a bit young without being babyish, and is suggested for ages 2-8. Run time is 45 min.

Dan Flannery says, "Our overall goal is to increase kids' level of knowledge, engagement with, and curiosity about the world-and never to address children in a condescending manner."

Mike adds, "There are things that make all of us human-both adults and kids-and that's what we sing about."

- Lynne Heffley ©2010 Parents' Choice Awards says: A happy quirkiness bubbles throughout this new CD from brothers Dan and Mike Flannery. Versatile musicians and zippy vocalists, they reflect an understanding of a growing child's world in songs crafted with comic and thoughtful twists. "Swallowed a Bug" is about the inevitability of life's little mishaps ("but it's all fine, just play in the sunshine"). "Pirate or Parrot?" dispels any doubt about which is which. In "Sea Glass," a bit of bottle washed up on the beach isn't trash; it's a mysterious treasure. A "Quiet Place" can inspire peaceful thoughts to bloom and "In the Middle" manages to include a goat, a molecule and a basketball among unexpected illustrations of tall, small, big and little. The Flannerys and other able musicians provide apt instrumental layers with accordion, ukulele, horns, percussion, keyboards, guitar and more.