A WORD FROM BOB

After recording five albums of songs written by others, I decided it was about time to try my hand at recording a few originals. I knew I was going to need a lot of help putting this album together, so I called a multi-talented musician by the name of Kristian Rex.

Kristian and I spent a few months determining what kind of album this should be. One of my top priorities was to hire some of the very best professional acoustic musicians possible. Kristian brought in a few of New York City’s top studio musicians and ran all the recording sessions. It was nothing less than thrilling listening to Nils Lofgren, Will Lee, Cyril Baptista, Chris Botti, and others bring their own unique styles into the studio. I called upon my old friend Dick Hyman from the Sing Along With Mitch Miller TV show for piano and organ. All of these talented musicians wanted children to hear the very best their instruments could offer, and because of their dedication, several of the selections have become staples in schools around the country.

Kristian wrote three original songs for the album, and he and I worked on six together. We also thought it would be fun to write a song based on a children’s book, but which one? A few days later Kristian’s son brought home a book from the library written by Theodore Gross. Kristian read it to him that night and called me the next morning very excited because he thought he had found the perfect book to set to music. Inspired by Paul Simon’s collaborations with the South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kristian wrote the music for Everyone Asked About You.

At many NAEYC conferences around the country, I’ve heard from teachers how much they love this song. It’s terrific to hear teachers talk about how they’ve created theatrical plays around this song and how well it works as an introduction to a multi-cultural lesson.

I  hope you and your children enjoy this album as much as Kristian and I enjoyed putting it together for you.