Sing Out!

 

Sing Out! Six Classic Folk Songs for Tomorrow. Performed by Sin and Swoon. Illustrated by Sophie Casson. Book with CD (approx.. 17 minutes). The Secret Mountain, 2020. 156 p. $16.95. 978-2-924774-85-4. Preschool-Kindergarten

    This picture book presents six traditional songs, three of which were published as individual picture books in 2018. I reviewed those three books in this blog on November 18, 2018: “Pop Goes the Weasel,” “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain,” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” The other three songs in this volume are “Little Bingo,” “This Old Man,” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

The book is illustrated with brightly colored, stylized, and folksy illustrations. Each page contains a verse or a phrase from the song. The print is large, so that beginning readers would be able to read the words while listening to the music. On the CD, excellent background musicians perform on acoustic and electric guitars, bass, banjo, mandolin, lapsteel, kora, trombone, trumpet, accordion, and drums and percussion. The vocalists sing beautifully, clearly enunciating the words. Each of the songs is in a musical style suited to the song; i.e., “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” is a toe-tapping bluegrass song featuring tight harmonies. “Little Bingo,” with dog howls, is a bouncy rock song with rhyming words: bing-o, ring-o, king-o, etc. “This Old Man,” in folk rock style, counts up to ten. “Pop Goes the Weasel,” is an upbeat, fast accordion folk piece. “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” is a fun country tune. “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is a soft folk song accompanied by a quiet acoustic guitar, and light, clear female vocals.

Inserted into the CD pocket is a flyer with a unique code for the digital download of all recordings and a printable file of the illustrated lyrics. This book and the songs are great resources for passing along traditional songs to the next generation.  

Website: https://www.thesecretmountain.com/