Friday, April 8, 2011

Mailbox - Letters from Fans

I play your music often in my In Home Licesned Daycare setting. The kids just love your music. I have taken it to the next level with my daycare kids and I am now learning hoe to play guitar to incorporate in my daycare circle times and music n movement activities...I was wondering if you have sheet music or guitar chords to go along with your lyrics?



Blessings,

Amy
kiddieclubhousechildcare@gmail.com


Hey Amy: You go girl!!! Yes, check out my Book Activity section. Several of the songs that go with the books have song sheets in the book activity packets. I am working on adding more song sheets though I have to have someone else produce them for me since I play by ear!!!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

On the Road Again...

April and May bring many trips and major festival performances for me. I'll be in Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and New York. Here are some highlights:

April 13 from 10-12, Book Signing, Texas Library Association Conference, Austin, TX
April 15 at 11:00, Concert, New Orleans Jazz Park Visitor's Center, New Orleans, LA
April 16-25, North Carolina
April 29, TV Interview, Steppin Out, New Orleans, LA
April 30 at 10:30 & 2:00, Concert, Oxford Double Decker Arts Festival, Oxford, MS
May 6 at 11:00, Concert, New Orleans Jazz Park, New Orleans, LA
May 7 from 10:30-11:00, Author Presentation, Hudson Children's Book Festival, Hudson, NY
May 8 from 12:45-1:30, Concert, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans, LA
May 11-14, Nashville, TN
May 15-19, North Carolina

Boogie Woogie Bugs a Silver Parents' Choice Award Winner!!

I am quite pleased to announce that my BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGS CD just received a Silver Parents' Choice Award! Here is the review!

Boogie Woogie Bugs
Spring 2011 Music
Ages: All Ages
Producer: Wiggle Worm Records
CD Price: $15.99

Review:

New Orleans native Johnette Downing's Boogie Woogie Bugs, her eighth children's music album, celebrates the incredible world of insects. The CD includes a generous helping of twenty songs, starting with the swinging "Backyard is Buzzin' Alive," the gypsy fiddle driven creepiness of "Arachnid," and the Spanish/English sung tale of butterflies "Mariposa." While the majority of the songs are original, when Downing does turn to traditional fare such as "Head, Thorax, Abdomen," "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Bugs," and "Five Little Butterflies," she brings fresh arrangements to them, such as her country blues rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Her strengths lie in her self-penned songs, such as her sweet multi-tracked acapella voice on "Ladybug," the string band backed "Bug Band," and the Dixieland Jazz of "Milli the Millipede." Downing even makes the more undesirable denizens of the bug world sound fun, as in her snappy (and biting) "Bed Bugs," or her hilarious Blues tribute to the "Cockroach," with its chorus of children sighing "ewww." Among all the fun, Downing imparts a fair amount of knowledge about bugs and does so with her own inimitable style and grace. With full lyrics included, this is both a valuable resource for parents and educators, as well as a wonderfully fun album that gets better with each listen.

-Lahri Bond ©2011 Parents' Choice Lahri Bond is a father, a writer and the art director for Dirty Linen: The Magazine of Folk and World Music. His published books include Spinning Tales Weaving Hope (with the Stories For World Change Network) for New Society Press and People of the Earth (coauthored with Ellen Evert Hopman) for Destiny Books.

Look for this product at:
Wiggle Worm Records http://www.johnettedowning.com
Major, Specialty & Online Retailers Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004IS2Z5I/parentschoice-20