(gentle music) - [Announcer] WoodSongs Kids is funded in part by the Kentucky Department of Tourism.
Information about the lakes, mountains, parks, sports, music, art festivals, and more is available online at KentuckyTourism.com.
By the Martin Guitar Company, building handcrafted guitars for professionals and front porch pickers since 1833.
Online at MartinGuitars.com and by the Deering Banjo Company making American made, handcrafted banjos.
Their full catalog of banjos is online at DeeringBanjos.com (gentle music) - [Woman] WoodSongs Kids celebrating the music of America's front porch from the Lyric Theater in Lexington, Kentucky.
- Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls I'm Emma-Charles from Statesboro, Georgia.
Welcome to WoodSongs Kids.
Please welcome our friend, folksinger Michael Johnathan.
(audience claps) (banjo plays) - Thank you.
We're gonna sing a little song together, aren't we?
♪ Sittin' on a creaky old rocking chair ♪ ♪ You say it's gonna rain ♪ We don't care ♪ Dancing with you all afternoon ♪ ♪ On the front porch with me ♪ Listen to the rhythm of a summer rain ♪ ♪ Tapping out a tempo on my window pane ♪ ♪ Nothing like summer on a front porch swing ♪ ♪ Making my banjo ring ♪ I'm playing my banjo ♪ On a rocking chair ♪ You can play a fiddle in your underwear ♪ ♪ Just as a pretty as rainbow in your hair ♪ ♪ On the front porch with me ♪ When you're on the front porch with me ♪ ♪ When you're on the front porch with me ♪ (audience claps) - Yay.
Good job.
It's nice to have you with us and welcome everybody to WoodSongs Kid.
We are celebrating the wonderful world of the music of America's front porch, and we do it with kids, only kids are on our show and they come from everywhere.
Where are we?
We are in the beautiful hometown of Lexington, Kentucky in a historic theater called The Lyric Theater.
Very beautiful hometown, I'm sure just like yours.
And kids come from everywhere to be on our show and we tell them all the time, "You don't have to be perfect, we just want you to have a lot of fun."
And that's what this show is all about.
It's giving kids a chance to have fun and show how wonderful and happy good music can be.
First up is gonna be a family of brothers and sisters.
They came all the way from Alabama and they're gonna do a song called "Slemish Mountain."
It's a great bunch of instrumentals of banjos and mandolins and dobros and everything.
Wait 'til you hear them.
It's the Cotton Pickin' Kids right here on WoodSongs Kids.
(audience claps) (upbeat music) (more instruments join in) (music gets more upbeat) (audience claps) - Look it there, all the way from Alabama The Cotton Pickin' Kids, a family of brothers and sisters.
Let's say hi to the older brother Savio.
How you doing Savio?
It's nice, you're playing the mandolin.
- Yes, sir.
- And tell me about the mandolin.
It's tuned kind of like a fiddle in a way, isn't it?
- Yes sir.
Yeah, it's so has a D, G, A, and E, and they're all just paired.
It's pretty much two strings for each.
I guess a fiddle would be one.
So kind of gives it volume.
- Now the band is kind of structured like a bluegrass band, right?
And you've been playing the mandolin.
Did you have a mandolin hero?
Is there someone that you love to play like?
- Yes, sir.
So I got a lot of my inspiration from Ricky Skaggs.
Anybody knows Ricky Skaggs?
(audience claps) - [Michael] Of course.
- And that song right there that I played was an original.
And that's pretty much where my inspiration came from was his Irish music.
- Now the next song that you're gonna play is gonna be very mandolin dominant but you have your whole family behind you, let's say hi to the fiddle player Therese.
(audience claps) So it must be fun playing with your family.
You play together a lot as a family right?
- Yes, of course.
- And how old were you when you started playing the fiddle?
- I was nine years old.
- Nine years old.
And a lot of folks that don't know much about music instruments are gonna go, "Well, what's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?"
How would you explain that?
- Well, a violin has strings and a fiddle has strings.
- Strings.
(laughs) (audience laughs) - Yeah, the joke that I heard is that violin players get paid.
(Therese laughs) (audience laughs) So there's always that, right?
But now was it hard for you to learn how to play the fiddle?
A lot of kids are gonna watch the show, they're gonna see how wonderful you play.
But is this an easy thing for you to learn?
- It was, I picked it up very quickly, so yeah.
I do recommend it though.
It's really fun.
- It's a lot of fun, right?
Now, next to you is your is your brother playing the banjo.
Let's invite him over here.
Gianluca.
(audience claps) Right?
Gianluca.
Now you're playing the five string banjo and you're a really, really good banjo player.
How old are you?
- 14.
- You're 14 years old.
And how did a 14 year old kid get to play the banjo so well?
- A lot of practice.
- A lot of practice, right?
Sitting on the couch, now did you watch TV and then practice during the commercials?
Or do you have like really, really structured practicing?
- We just practice like two hours a day.
- [Michael] As a family?
- Yes.
- That's a lot of fun.
Well, let's get back into your music.
You're gonna do a great song and it's gonna feature the banjo on this.
It's called "I Am the Man Thomas."
It is Cotton Pickin' Kids all the way (audience claps) from Alabama on WoodSongs Kids.
(upbeat music) ♪ I am the man Thomas ♪ I am the man ♪ Look at these nail scars I carry in my hand ♪ ♪ They drove me up the hill Thomas ♪ ♪ I am the man ♪ They made me carry the cross Thomas ♪ ♪ I am the man ♪ I am the man Thomas ♪ I am the man ♪ Look at these nail scars here on my hand ♪ ♪ They pierced me in the side ♪ Thomas I am the man ♪ I died on the cross Thomas ♪ I am the man ♪ I am the man ♪ Thomas I am the man ♪ Look at these nail scars here in my hand ♪ ♪ I am the man Thomas ♪ I am the man ♪ Look at these nail scars ♪ Here in my hand (audience claps) - The Cotton Pickin' Kids all the way from Alabama.
Wonderful brothers and sisters, we're got Savio playing the mandolin, Therese playing the fiddle, Cecilia on guitar, Rosalinda playing fiddle and upright bass back there, Gianluca is playing the banjo, didn't he do a good job on that banjo?
(audience claps) I told you he was really good.
And 12 year old Giovanni on the dobro.
(instrument string twanging) Giovanni, you can go over to the microphone there.
The dobro is about a hundred years old now and it kind of looks like a guitar with a hubcap on it.
Why did you pick the dobro to play?
- I just thought it was cool.
- Was it fun to learn?
- [Giovanni] Yes, sir.
- And you play with something, you play with a bar on your left hand, right?
- [Giovanni] Yes sir.
- And is that an easy thing?
'Cause a guitar is used to playing with their fingers but you're playing with a bar.
- Yeah, for me it's easier.
- Because that's what you got used to, right?
Let's invite your dad, Fabio.
Fabio is gonna come up.
Father of The Cotton Pickin' Kids.
(audience claps) So Dad, it must be really something for you to be able to see your family, your children playing together so well.
- Yes sir.
It's been a blessing.
We had a great teacher, Mr. Craig Shelton from Alabama, Good Hope.
And this is his teaching, everything.
This is his work right here.
So he's- - But it takes a good mom and dad.
It takes parents to be able to encourage the kids, right?
- [Fabio] Yes sir.
Yeah.
- So now, you, when you're mentoring these children, it's nice that you have a music teacher but there's gonna be a lot of parents out there going, "How did you get your kids to be so doggone good?"
- A lot of dedication and a lot of work.
Anything in life, you gotta put a lot of work and a lot of dedication to be good.
- And I'm sure Minecraft and the Roblox did not have a big role in the kids learning how to play these instruments, right?
- A little bit, but no, not so much.
(Fabio laughs) - [Michael] Not so much.
Well let's get back into their music now.
They're gonna do a really cool song here.
This is a John Hartford tune.
Is John Hartford a big hero of yours?
Is that why you picked this tune?
- Yes.
- So this is one of his most popular songs.
It's called "Gentle On My Mind."
It is The Cotton Pickin' Kids right here on WoodSongs Kids.
(audience claps) (upbeat music) ♪ It's knowing that your door is always open ♪ ♪ And your path is free to walk ♪ ♪ That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag ♪ ♪ Rolled up and stashed behind your couch ♪ ♪ And it's knowing I'm not shackled ♪ ♪ By forgotten words and bonds ♪ And the ink stains that are dried upon some line ♪ ♪ That keeps you in the back roads by the rivers ♪ ♪ Of my memory ♪ And it keeps you ever gentle on my mind ♪ ♪ It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy ♪ ♪ Planted on their columns now that bind me ♪ ♪ Or something that somebody said ♪ ♪ Because they thought we fit together walking ♪ ♪ It's just knowing that the world will not ♪ ♪ Be cursing or forgiving ♪ When I walk along some railroad track and find ♪ ♪ That you're moving on the back roads ♪ ♪ In the rivers of my memory ♪ And you're always just gentle on my mind ♪ ♪ Well I dip my cup of soup back ♪ ♪ From a gurglin' cracklin' Calderon in some train yard ♪ ♪ My beard a rustling coal pile ♪ ♪ And a dirty hat pulled low across my face ♪ ♪ Across my face ♪ Through cupped hands ♪ 'Round the tin can I pretend to hold you ♪ ♪ To my breast and find ♪ Find ♪ Whoa that you're waiting from the back roads ♪ ♪ By the rivers of my memory ♪ Ever smilin' ever gentle on my mind ♪ (upbeat music continues) ♪ Gentle on my mind ♪ You're gentle on my mind ♪ Oh (audience claps) - Good playing.
Cotton Pickin' Kids all the way from Alabama on our broadcast here at the historic Lyric Theater in our hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, the crossroads of America's folk and bluegrass music.
If you have youngsters that you think belongs on our broadcast, we want to hear from you.
All you have to do is go to the WoodSongs website and click on the kids TV button.
And we listen to every single submission that comes in.
We love so many of these kids that come on our broadcast.
Why do we do it?
You know, Mr. Rogers who had a big broadcast on public television about kids, he said, "Listening is where love begins."
And you could see from the Cotton Pickin' Kids as a family that their parents and their teachers love listening to them, and it's that love that makes them want to play.
It encourages them to play.
John Lennon said that everybody, every child is an artist until they're told they're not.
And here on WoodSongs Kids we tell those kids that they are artists.
They're wonderful musicians.
That's true of the next artist that's coming to us all the way from Texas.
She's gonna talk about songwriting.
She's only 14 years old.
She's a great songwriter.
She's got a wonderful story to tell.
Please welcome Elle Townley to the WoodSongs Kids.
(audience claps) (upbeat guitar music) ♪ She said that I said something that I never said ♪ ♪ How can I forgive all these gossip queens ♪ ♪ They all lie Mama says don't cry ♪ ♪ I try but who can I turn to when all my best friends ♪ ♪ Make better enemies ♪ Maybe it's true I played some small part ♪ ♪ But I'm the only one here ♪ Who ever gets caught ♪ Trouble trouble trouble ♪ Stuck in the middle and on my own ♪ ♪ Trouble's always calling my name ♪ ♪ Trouble trouble trouble ♪ Trouble won't ever leave me alone ♪ ♪ The trouble with trouble is always the blame ♪ ♪ Oh what a shame ♪ What a shame ♪ What a shame ♪ Oh what a shame ♪ What a shame ♪ What a shame ♪ Maybe it's true ♪ I played some small part ♪ But I'm the only one here ♪ Who ever gets caught ♪ Trouble trouble trouble ♪ Stuck in the middle and on my own ♪ ♪ Trouble is always calling my name ♪ ♪ Trouble trouble trouble ♪ Trouble won't ever leave me alone ♪ ♪ The trouble with trouble is always the blame ♪ ♪ I'm always to blame ♪ I'm always to blame ♪ What a shame (audience claps) - 14 year old Elle Townley all the way from Georgetown, Texas which is near Austin, right?
- [Elle] It is, yes.
- And so you've come a long way to be here.
We're very grateful you did that.
And it's nice having parents and grownups around you that encourage you to do this, right?
- It really is.
I have a great community around me back home.
- [Michael] And that's important 'cause a lot of kids don't have that.
- I know.
- They don't get that fuel, that spark, that encouragement from the people around them.
So that helps drive you, right?
- Oh, of course.
Yeah.
I'm so fortunate to be where I am and have the people.
- Well I'm gonna brag on you a little bit.
(Elle laughs) You were a top five finalist in the Houston Rodeo Rockstar Competition and you placed first in the Old Settlers Music Festival youth talent.
So you've really (audience claps) come quite a way with your songwriting.
And you wrote that song, "Trouble with Trouble."
Was that a hard song for you to write?
- [Elle] Well- (laughs) - The lyrics, for a 14 year old girl, the lyrics are pretty deep.
- So I wrote that song I think when I was 10 actually.
- [Michael] Well.
(laughs) - Yeah, songwriting, I always say like therapy for me.
So once I have something I'm really passionate to write about I just sit down and I work on it and just kinda get it done.
- Now was the guitar a first instrument for you or did you start playing a different instrument before it?
- The guitar was the first instrument.
- Most popular instrument in the world is the guitar, right?
- [Elle] Yes it is.
- So let describe it for the kids that are watching, there's six strings on it.
- There is.
- [Michael] And what are those little wires called?
- Here?
- [Michael] Yeah, what are they- - Strings.
- [Michael] They're strings.
And those are frets that you're putting your fingers on, right?
- Oh yes.
- And you tune each one.
Those are those buttons there at the end.
You tune 'em up.
Was it hard for you to learn how to tune a guitar?
- Actually, no.
I had a wonderful teacher, and I still see him every other Thursday, so he is awesome.
- So as good as you've gotten, you still do your lessons, right?
- Oh yes, of course.
There's always more to learn.
- Well, we're gonna go back into some more of your songwriting and this is a tune called "Fairweather Friend."
What is this about?
What would people look for in the lyric?
- Well, I wrote this song about friends and the drama, just having people around you who only wanna be there for your success and don't stick behind you when it really counts.
- And you've encountered this at 14 years old?
- (laughs) Yeah, a couple times.
Again, I'm really fortunate to have the people back home so I have really supportive friends and- - But no matter how good things are, there's always those few that are a little bit jealous.
- [Elle] Of course.
- Right?
- [Elle] Mm-hmm.
- Or they don't understand what you're trying to do.
- [Elle] Of course.
- Where they don't think music and art is important.
- [Elle] Yep.
- What would you tell someone who doesn't feel like, maybe there's a mom or dad out there and they have a youngster that wants to play the guitar or they like to draw or they wanna play the piano, but maybe that parent or grownup doesn't think art and music is that important.
What would you tell that grownup?
- I would say you're missing out.
Music and art in general is just such a amazing part of life.
And in my opinion if you don't have that you're really missing out on something special.
- Well, you're something special (Elle laughs) and we're not missing out on you 'cause you're here.
She's gonna do a song that she wrote herself, "Fairweather Friend."
It's 14 year old Elle Townley all the way from Georgetown, Texas.
(audience claps) (gentle guitar music) ♪ The way you left my broken heart all crumbled up ♪ ♪ And torn apart ♪ May not have been what you wanted ♪ ♪ Too little a little too soon ♪ I'm sorry but I can't trust you ♪ ♪ Or pretend it never happened ♪ The way you left me in the dust ♪ ♪ You can't just sweep it under the rug ♪ ♪ You say you're mine and then you're off and running ♪ ♪ About the time the clouds come rolling in ♪ ♪ Rain or shine those words ♪ They don't mean nothing ♪ To my my fairweather friend ♪ All is said and done ♪ I love you the same ♪ Better dry your things 'cause here comes the rain ♪ ♪ You say you're mine and then you're off and running ♪ ♪ Until the time the sun comes up again ♪ ♪ Rain or shine those words they don't mean nothing ♪ ♪ To my my fairweather friend ♪ You say you're mine and then you're off and running ♪ ♪ Until the time the sun comes up again ♪ ♪ Rain or shine those words they don't mean nothing ♪ ♪ To my my fairweather ♪ To my my fairweather friend (audience claps) - 14 year old Elle Townley all the way from Georgetown, Texas.
And wasn't it wonderful having The Cotton Pickin' Kids here with their dad?
(audience claps) Great music.
Right, Emma?
I mean it's so much fun to listen to all this, right?
- Yes.
- And, you know, one of the things that reminds me is that there was a South African leader that spent a lot of time in jail and he saw the breakdown of society and families and saw something that would become very important to build them up.
He said, "A society reveals its soul by the way it treats its children."
And we want to treat children as artists and musicians and wonderful contributors to the world around, just like you, 'cause you're a singer too, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Why don't you tell everybody to join us next week.
- Thank you for watching our show.
Please make sure to join us again next week for more WoodSongs Kids.
- WoodSongs Kids.
(audience claps and cheers) (gentle music) - [Announcer] WoodSongs Kids is funded in part by the Kentucky Department of Tourism.
Information about the lakes, mountains, parks, sports, music, art festivals and more is available online at KentuckyTourism.com.
By the Martin Guitar Company building handcrafted guitars for professionals and front porch pickers since 1833.
Online at MartinGuitars.com and by the Deering Banjo Company making American-made handcrafted banjos.
Their full catalog of banjos is online at DeeringBanjos.com.
(upbeat musical flourish)
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