With a mix of tongue twisters, lullabies and happy songs, Bryant Oden’s Songdrops bring something every child and parent can enjoy. While first track, “The Duck Song” has amassed over four million views on YouTube, additional songs on the album are sure to do the same. His debut to recording, Oden’s 30-track album showcases his versatility. While most songs are between one-two minutes, Songdrops is great for children with short attention spans and parents will never tire of hitting that repeat button.

Growing up in Oklahoma, singer-songwriter Oden started writing songs as a kid. While some were funny, others were straight from his heart. “None of them were very good. But that process of being in a creative mood and writing a funny song, and also of walking in the woods and having a real heart song come to me, that has never really gone away,” Oden said.

Music has always been more of a pastime for Oden than a career, however after countless suggestions by family and friends to record a CD of his children’s songs, the fall of 2008 saw this project come to fruition. “After hearing someone say again I should record my kid songs, I just decided to go for it. I thought I would record maybe eight or nine songs. Six months later I’ve recorded over 30, most of them newer songs that came to me once I started recording. So this has become a much bigger project than I had expected!”

Oden uploaded some tunes to YouTube this past January. Since then, his YouTube channel has surpassed two million views. Eventually, “The Duck Song” was animated, receiving over one million views within the first month. The tale within “The Duck Song” is of an annoying duck who walks up to a lemonade stand asking for grapes. Eventually, the man takes him to the store to buy him grapes to which the duck tries one, and decides he’d rather have lemonade.

Second track off the album, “I Got a Pea” is reaching similar success. With slight vocal resemblance to that of Kermit the Frog, the light percussion and electronic beat are sure to keep the kids attentive. Segueing nicely into “Lazy Saturday Afternoon,” the album turns quickly into that of a lullaby on title track, “Songdrops.” With soft guitar finger picking, whistling and a flute feature, I can easily imagine the track accompanying a parent putting their child to sleep.

There are many hidden gems throughout Songdrops. “Love Is” is one example. A beautiful piano based track featuring young vocals, I can’t help but think of it being reminiscent to that of a Christmas song. One of the more mature sounding tracks on Songdrops, parents can easily enjoy as well.

Ballads and lullabies aside, Songdrops offers many fun tongue twisters. Classics such as “Peter Piper” can be found throughout the 30-song album as well as the original “I Sneezed a Sneeze.” Whether it’s familiarizing a new genre of music like jazz on “Barry the Bear” or introducing a unique new instrument on “The Ukulele Song,” Oden opens the world of music to kids.

Additionally, tracks including “One Little Thing” teach children to help each other. “Is there one little thing I can do today/To make this world a better place/One little thing is the perfect start/For me to do my part/One little, two little, three little things/What a difference we can bring/With everybody pitching in/Lets begin,” Oden sings on the track, which is just over one minute long. Throughout Songdrops, Oden is making a difference and instilling important lessons along the way, something every parent can be grateful for.

Reviewed By Andrea Guy

Andrea Guy, Reviews Bryant Olden, Songdrops

Songdrops is an unusual batch of tunes for the tinier listeners. The vocals are definitely suited to kids from Pre-school to maybe 1^st grade. The subject matter goes from cute stories (The Duck Song, I’ve Got A Pea) to the more outrageous (This Song Is Stuck Inside My Head, The Ukulele Song). The styles used for each range from electronic synth pop beats, to folk songs a’la Peter, Paul & Mary, to power pop.

The album is all over the place, with short little ditties designed to capture the attention of the younger crowd and when they aren’t doing that they are soothing them so they can drift off to the land of nod. On lullaby-like track, Sing You A Rainbow is very much like Peter, Paul & Mary.  In fact the vocals sound quite a bit like Paul Stookey.

The songs that really will stick with you are the ones that have you and the kids in stitches, like I Got A Pea which sings like “I gotta pee” and I  Don’t Like Tomatoes because they make the singer “Far To Unhappy.”  Yes, sing that last line at just the right speed and you’ll  know everyone is going to be giggling up a storm. If those don’t tickle your fancy, maybe Honey Bear who is sitting there in its underwear will bring a smile to you face.  Then there’s Before I Knew How To Rhyme, which is just hilarious, simply because of the phrases that replace rather obvious words that would rhyme in the tune.

The tracks on the album fit nicely in four categories,  “funny songs,” “happy songs,” “tongue twisters,” and “relaxing songs/bedtime songs.” So there’s a song for just about every time that you’re little one will be in need of music. Maybe that’s a bit much in the grand scheme of thing, after all Songdrops and Sundrops are the same song with different lyrics, and the first time you play the CD through you may wonder why the song appears twice, that is until you check the liner notes, but its still a pretty song, whichever set of lyrics you choose. 

This is definite an album the kids will go wild for and to make it better, it’s an album that won’t drive their parents to distraction when the songs are played on repeat. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that a parent or two out there might find themselves singing along, especially to some of the sillier tunes that worm their way right into your head. Parents don’t worry, they aren’t songs you’ll be too embarrassed to be caught singing. Ok, maybe when you’re singing the “I Got A Pea” you may get some funny looks, but it could be worse.

Bryant has crafted an album chock full of good tunes that will amuse and delight the little ones in your life. Grab a copy and get to singing. This album is sure to bring some smiles to all the young kids and its bound to be an album you’ll want to share with the rest of the family too.

Reviewed By Andrea Guy

Andrea Guy, Reviews Bryant Oden, Songdrops