"Animal Crackers" Gives Children's Music a Hip New Spin

Press release
Source: Bloodshot Records

These Wee Hairy Beasties -- Cyril the Karaoke Squirrel (JON LANGFORD) Marjorie the Singing Bee (KELLY HOGAN), Monkey Double Dippey (SALLY TIMMS) and the amazing musicians of DEVIL IN A WOODPILE -- firmly believe that "Kids Music" NEED! NOT! BE! UNLISTENABLE! In fact, their dance-with-ants-in-your-pants blend of back porch country blues, hippity-hop country, and wiggly old-timey swing is bound to please any child or adult -- OR any insect, amphibian, reptile, mammal or other creature within earshot.

The Wee Hairy Beasties first performed at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago -- and being under the mistaken impression they would be playing FOR the animals, they wrote all their songs about animals. But there were children and parents there too, and -- from what the Beasties could tell with their highly-tuned instincts -- the humans seemed to enjoy the show great deal and so it was agreed that a CD of this music must be concocted. The resulting buggy-bumping Beastie music on “Animal Crackers” is mostly for kids but groove-inducing for parents as well.

Thrill your thorax with the sing-a-long tunes about ducks, squirrels, flies, newts, turtles and more! Let your inner music geek marvel at the dexterous harmonica and clarinet action -- and the waterbug-graceful National steel guitar playing! Move any number of legs and warble along with The Beasties' scientifically excellent vocals! All creatures great and small will benefit from the important lessons about road safety, keeping flies off your supper, and the perils of karaoke.

The Wee Hairy Beastie’s debut album, “Animal Crackers” will be in fine stores everywhere on October 24th. The band performs at Chicago’s Millennium Park on August 14th; the October record release party will be announced soon.

About JON LANGFORD: The L'homme de Renaissance of indie rock. Langford is a prolific painter whose work is highly collectible; he has produced records and lent his ham-fisted guitar stylings to recordings by the Old 97's, Kelly Hogan, Sally Timms, Alejandro Escovedo, among others. He also draws a comic strip, plays in the Mekons, Pine Valley Cosmonauts and the Waco Brothers and acts a papa bear figure to many of Chicago's musicians.

About SALLY TIMMS: Best known for her tenure with the legendary Mekons, singer Sally Timms was born in Leeds, England; Timms fronted her own all-female group the Shee Hees before joining the Mekons in 1985, debuting on the acclaimed Fear and Whiskey; two years later, she and backing outfit the Drifting Cowgirls issued an EP, The Butcher Boy. Timms continued balancing her Mekons duties with solo projects in the years to follow, further expanding upon the country influences which informed the band's albums; her albums are critically acclaimed internationally.

About KELLY HOGAN: Equally comfortable with indie rock, traditional country, and jazz pop, Georgia-based singer/songwriter Kelly Hogan explored all of those directions and more in her career. As the singer/guitarist for the Jody Grind in the early '90s, Hogan made a name for herself and the band with her lovely, versatile voice. Hogan later joined the arty garage rock revivalists the Rock*A*Teens, that year, she also released her first solo album, The Whistle Only Dogs Can Hear. In 1997, Hogan began collaborating with alt-country and indie rock artists like Will Oldham and the Waco Brothers, subsequently launching a distinquished career as a solo artist. She is currently touring with Neko Case.

About DEVIL IN A WOODPILE: Chicago's Devil in a Woodpile plays their own brash country-rock, layering it with ragtime, sultry jazz, and some nasty blues to make roots rock an ever-changing genre in music. The earnest band — frontman/multi-instrumentalist Rick "Cookin" Sherry, steel guitarist Paul K., and bassist Tom Ray — is truly in the industry for the blood, sweat, and tears of making quality music.