Americana for Kids

Every now and then I get an email from someone looking for great covert ways to introduce their children to folk and Americana music. Lucky for those folks, our About.com Children's Music Guide Warren Truitt has made a list of the best new Americana albums for kids.

As you may know, folk music can be very serious or very goofy, or very much everything between. So many of the old, old folk songs we learned as children turn out to have verses about murder or blatant racism. Now familiar with the story behind something like "Oh Susanna," you may be reticent to play the entire traditional version for your kids. But there are plenty of ways to introduce the kiddies to traditional and traditionally-influenced music. Check out Warren's top picks. (He also, incidentally, reviewed Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways Records, which isn't really about kids but may be a book of great interest.)