I’ve played on several tribute albums, and have enjoyed doing all of them, but this last one was the most musically rewarding of them all. It’s
a tribute to Schoolhouse Rock, a newly-released, sprawling collection (over 20 songs!) covering the Saturday morning educational mini-cartoons so many of us enjoyed growing up. I played keyboards on four songs, each more challenging than the last, and with bands that rose to the occasion each time. Little Twelve Toes is a prog-funk masterpiece, led here by the brilliant Mark McCrite so naturally in his prog element. Kyle Richards leads the highly-caffeinated jazz piece Ready Or Not, Here I Come; it was all I could do to keep up with the band. The song Verb is a 70s funk time machine, led by Ted Kissel with Sara Depp so ably handling the lead vocal. Finally, I play on Great American Melting Pot, a song whose writer must have melted their entire Joni Mitchel vinyl collection and fed themself intravenously with it (Tim King leads, and Carey Anne absolutely channels Joni). If you loved these songs as a kid, I highly recommend you
give this whole album a digital spin!
