Reviews

New Orleans native Johnette Downing's Boogie Woogie Bugs, her eighth children's music album, celebrates the incredible world of insects. The CD includes a generous helping of twenty songs, starting with the swinging "Backyard is Buzzin' Alive," the gypsy fiddle driven creepiness of "Arachnid," and the Spanish/English sung tale of butterflies "Mariposa." While the majority of the songs are original, when Downing does turn to traditional fare such as "Head, Thorax, Abdomen," "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Bugs," and "Five Little Butterflies," she brings fresh arrangements to them, such as her country blues rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Her strengths lie in her self-penned songs, such as her sweet multi-tracked acapella voice on "Ladybug," the string band backed "Bug Band," and the Dixieland Jazz of "Milli the Millipede." Downing even makes the more undesirable denizens of the bug world sound fun, as in her snappy (and biting) "Bed Bugs," or her hilarious Blues tribute to the "Cockroach," with its chorus of children sighing "ewww." Among all the fun, Downing imparts a fair amount of knowledge about bugs and does so with her own inimitable style and grace. With full lyrics included, this is both a valuable resource for parents and educators, as well as a wonderfully fun album that gets better with each listen.
-Lahri Bond ©2011 Parents' Choice