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Sammie Haynes’ releases 'ABC's' CD Nov. 13
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By Chuck Ginsberg
Spotlight Magazine
spotlight@seacoastonline.com
What: CD release party for "Nature's ABC's" by Sammie Haynes and benefit for Great Works Regional Land Trust, conserving working landscapes and wildlife lands. Taylor Whiteside and Jon Booth will accompany Haynes. Special guests include children's musician Mary Kaye and barred owl Bianca, an educational bird from the Center for Wildlife. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
When: Saturday, Nov. 13, 10:30 a.m.
Where: South Berwich Town Hall, South Berwick, Maine.
Cost: $5 adults, $3 children, and $10 families.
Contact: For information, call (207) 384-4243. To learn more e-mail sammiekids@aol.com or visit www.sammiehaynes.com
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At bedtime, toddler Davis McCarthy was insatiable. When his mother stopped singing, he would murmur, "More." Sammie Haynes, a solo guitarist and singer since her teens, began to improvise. A children’s music career popped out.
The South Berwick resident’s new CD, "Nature’s ABC’s," on award-winning national label A Gentle Wind, is nominally for kids 3-8 but catchy and witty enough to engage all ages. Babysitters and teachers have a sharp tool to amuse and enlighten their charges. Parents, grandparents, and friends have an educational gift solution even more appealing than the ever-popular empty carton.
Haynes comes by the career honestly. Her grandmother and aunts "were never too busy to point out the beauty of nature, from the gardens to the animals in the backyard woods," and, she adds, "I adored singing while Nana played the piano."
Her camping experience came later, but she and husband, Cormac McCarthy, took Davis camping every summer from the age of 4. "He grew up with a great appreciation of the outdoors."
Haynes has a method to her madness. "I want kids to think in an enjoyable way," and "at an early age, let the kids in on something as important as nature." She learns from them, too.
"The Library" is a magic elixir of "treasure without measure" awaiting the bored. After three years of struggle, the song came easily. Tracy Wolters’ "Sugaring Time" is the quintessential New England memory so vividly evoked you can taste the syrup-soaked snow.
On the title cut and "Nature’s All Around Us," a children’s chorus and Maine kindergartners, respectively, assist Haynes on fulsome litanies of nature’s bounty, and the need to nurture it.
"The Train Song" is a spoken-word rail journey stoked by a Velcro-like chorus ("CHUG-A-CHUG-A-CHUG-A-CHUG-A-CHUG CHOO CHOO") that clings to the mind and holds on.
"Daddy’s Car" is a riff (only slightly exaggerated) on a real-life catch-all ("Popsicles, icicles, lollipops and pencils…."). Woody Guthrie’s classic "Dance Around" reminds us that the legendary folk songsmith was equally adept with kids’ music.
"Camping Tonight" blends benign images of whippoorwill calls and frolicking frogs with more fearsome ones of skunks, mosquitoes, and bears. Ultimately, serene sleep in the arms of the parentals wins out, "under the stars with the moon so bright."
"We’re Going on a Picnic" is another festive family undertaking with low carb fixin’s like pizza, pancakes, spaghetti, fried dough, and french fries.
"The River in Your Town" harbors the history and mystery of a local waterway, urging us to keep the river clean for tomorrow. "Pop, Pop, Pop" is the sound "sweet, sweet fruit," makes as it slips twixt our lips.
"Holey Old Wagon" is a chorus, and a song "outline." Youngsters fill in the outline with personal choices for the wagon’s cargo (e.g., a pony, a frog, a train, a dinosaur and a pizza). Eric Sinclair’s "What Do You Say?" expounds on the different words and phrases we use to express the same things.
Finally, the upbeat and sneakily instructive "Treasure Every Step" exhorts kids to use their brains and voices to sweep out blues, anger, sickness, feeling different, or whatever it is that ails them. The responsibility rests within.
Move over "Mozart Effect." Sammie Haynes scoffs at the notion of a "Haynes Effect" but Davis, now 15, has wanted to be a paleontologist since he could pronounce the word. Today, he dabbles in gardening and photography, and volunteers at Cape Neddick’s Center for Wildlife that rehabs sick and injured birds, animals, and reptiles to return to their natural habitats.
The release party for "Nature’s ABC’s" is Saturday, Nov. 13, 10:30 a.m., at South Berwick Town Hall and doubles as a benefit for Great Works Regional Land Trust, conserving working landscapes and wildlife lands.
Taylor Whiteside and Jon Booth will accompany Haynes. Special guests include children’s musician Mary Kaye and barred owl Bianca, an educational bird from the Center for Wildlife.
Admission is $5 adults, $3 children, and $10 families. Refreshments will be available for purchase. For information, call (207) 384-4243. To learn more e-mail sammiekids@aol.com or visit www.sammiehaynes.com
"Nature’s ABC’s" can be purchased at the concert, from A Gentle Wind at info@gentlewind.com or later from local music stores and toyshops. |
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