Go Waggaloo

Album Review

Like fellow troubadour turned children's music innovator Dan Zanes, singer/songwriter Sarah Lee Guthrie threw her hat into the genre with 2009's Go Waggaloo, a breath of fresh air in a realm that often leaves adults in a wake of simplistic, singsongy distress. While there is some of that here, Guthrie has crafted — along with a small army of family and friends including her kids, father Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger — a sweet and whimsical collection of traditional songs and new compositions, three of which ("Bright Clear Day," "Fox and the Goose," and the immensely likable title cut) were written around grandfather Woody Guthrie's lyrics that had yet to be put to music. Guthrie's own compositions, specifically the winning opening number "Don't I Fit in My Daddy's Shoes?" and "Big Square Walkin'," will no doubt please fans and parents who have enjoyed her previous, non-toddler releases, as well as the little ones who could care less that she comes from American folk royalty.