One of my greatest fears when I learned Mindy was pregnant revolved around the possibility I might be required to listen to lots of bad children’s music or risk being thought of as a bad dad. So perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit, but as one who struggles with music snobbery, the thought of bad children’s music did cross my mind. I simply couldn’t bear the thought of nurturing my child’s musical sensibilities with artificial “music” generated entirely by a synthesizer. Abundant gratitude may be too strong an expression, but I was thrilled to discover that two singer-songwriters had confronted a similar fear by deciding to record a collection of original children’s songs, Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies. This album, along with another album of children’s music by a classmate of ours at ACU, T.J. McCloud, has provided the background music for long car rides to visit grandparents, times of play around the house, and Carson’s first birthday party.
Randall Goodgame and Andrew Peterson, the creators of Slugs and Bugs, are preparing to release another album of original, quality children’s music, and are inviting people to help fund the project through Kickstarter. If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it is a site which facilitates the raising of funds for special projects. Slightly different than a traditional investment model, each donor receives certain products or experiences based on the level of his or her contribution. While Kickstarter is fascinating in its own right, what I really want to do is encourage you, if you are a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle, or if you know a couple about to have their first child or a family with young children, to consider supporting the new Slugs and Bugs project, along with Mindy and me and many others. After all, according to a manuscript variant, not only did Jesus speak of feeding and clothing and visiting the least of these, he also spoke of protecting their ears from bad music. Okay, again, not really, but we must all do our respective part if we are to keep bad children’s music from destroying the musical sensibilities of the youngest among us.
You can learn more about Slugs and Bugs by visiting their website which includes tour dates and a blog.
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