By Bob McKillop

Want to have a “Marvelous Day” with your kids?  Take them to One Longfellow Square this President’s Day (February 18) at 10:30 AM; The SteveSongs show is coming to town, and they’re going to love it!

“SteveSongs” is Steve Roslonek, a young man from Connecticut whose upbeat, rollicking, pop, rock, folk and jazz songs for kids are bringing fun and a love of music to kids all over the country.

Steve’s music spans many genres, and includes instrumentation that kids don’t always find in songs written and produced for their age group.  Edgy drum tracks, thumping bass, distorted guitar, horns, congas, and soaring, fun backing vocals by a dynamite chorus of kids.

Steve’s lyrics are lots of fun, too, and can be very entertaining even for adults.  And don’t tell the kids, but they just might learn something from them.  “Spyrtle the Turtle” is a folky, breezy tune about a loggerhead turtle, and it’s a lesson in marine biology, but the kids won’t mind! “The Veggie Song” is a funky, danceable seminar on good nutrition.  “Ducks Hatching” is co-written with a 3rd grade class; it is brass-infused pop rock, reminiscent of Chicago.  Did you know that you have to keep duck eggs at 99.5 degrees, and turn them over every two hours?  I do, after listening to this song!  There’s even a song about the water cycle (called, well, “Water Cycle”.)

 

But it’s not all educational – “Opposite Day” has a Caribbean beat, a great rhythm guitar track, backing horns that set a bright mood, and lyrics that will make kids use their imagination to think of new ways to be “opposite”.   Steve performs a cover of the traditional “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”, and it has an up-tempo beat, plinking mandolin, and the old lyrical game where the verbal responses are repeated cumulatively over the course of the song.  These responses are much more fun than the ones I remember!

Steve can even be inspirational:  “Hero” teaches kids that they can each be heroes in their own way and in their own lives.  Steve writes lyrics that kids can relate to, and that will sound authentic coming from their own lips; comfortable, accessible, and memorable.

 

All of these songs are on Steve Roslonek’s most recent CD, “Marvelous Day”.  I’m not an expert on kids’ music, but I had my share of kids, and I was a kid once; at times, I still feel like a kid.  One of those times was when I was listening to this CD.  Take my word for it, kids are going to love it, and so will you.

Steve started out by writing adult folk tunes, and played them occasionally at open mic events; then, his brother heard a couple of songs that Steve wrote for a friend’s daughter, and asked him to write some songs to help him teach his third grade class about the seasons and the days of the week.   Steve was hooked: he began to write children’s music almost exclusively, and found that kids and their parents responded in very positive ways.

 

These days, Steve records with a very talented group of friends from college, each of whom is accomplished in their own musical careers.  His producer and co-writer is Anand Nayak, who plays guitar with Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem, a wonderful folk band with a modern old-timey sound that is well known in the folk music community.  In fact, several other SteveSongs session musicians play with that band, including Scott Kessell (on the fabulous “drumship enterprise”) and Rani herself.

The kids that Steve has recruited for the backing vocals on this latest album are just plain wonderful!  They sing with talent, enthusiasm, and feeling, and sound like they are having a blast!  Steve says he found them through a friend who invited him to a children’s theater group audition.  These kids will make your own kids want to sing along with the record.

Steve feels as if 2008 is going to be a big year.  He was chosen by PBS to appear on segments of the PBS morning block on television, and has written 15 new songs just for that opportunity.  I got a chance to hear two of them;  “Giant” is a rock number about being small, and lets a kid's imagination soar about what it would be like to be a giant.  “Gravity” is a lesson in physics, set to a rhythm and blues track – lots of fun.  Steve says that the old television segments called “Schoolhouse Rock” was a major inspiration, and that comes through very clearly in this song.

This guy loves to write and perform music, loves kids, and your kids will love him too!

 

Make sure you catch him at One Longfellow Square this Monday, February 18, at 10:30 AM. Tickets are $8.00 in advance, and $10.00 at the door.