





A lot of your music focuses on the urban experience.




Meet the Artist: David Weinstone, Continued

You really pioneered the explosion in rock-oriented kids' music that began nearly a decade ago.

There are articles saying that I changed the geography of kids' music. That's really flattering. When I first started doing this [in the late nineties] the work was met with a lot of immediate attention. I was getting called into every record label, every network. I saw everybody who had anything to do with music, but they didn't really know what to do with me. Back then there was no such term as "kindy" rock. And although I got a lot of amazing press, there were some critics who were saying that it wasn't kids' music. Of course, now all that's changed.

You're recording a new CD as we speak. Can you tell us about it?

Yes! I had a bit of writers' block during the last few years. Then, all of a sudden, about six months ago, the floodgates opened. I started writing and writing and writing. And now I have too many songs for one album. So I'm putting down the best of what I have. I think there are some real jewels there. I'm doing around twenty new songs and, outside of compilations, it'll be my thirteenth CD for kids. I'm really excited about it. I'm right in the middle of it, so there are always surprises. You never know exactly how things will turn out, but so far it's going really well and I'm really excited about it.

How would you describe the music on this new CD?

Like all of my CDs, this one is very diverse stylistically, ranging from really beautiful lullabies to heavy-sounding alternative rock stuff. Of course lyrically, it's always for kids.

How would you differentiate yourself from other kids' performers?

I don't think I could be as commercially successful as some of the other kids' artists because, well, take this album I'm working on now. There are going to be songs that people are going to love and treasure. And there's going to be songs that they'll say, "I'm not sure I want my kids listening to this!"

For instance, I'm working on a song about kids being addicted to TV and video screens and stuff. It's really about addiction. And it sounds very heavy. But there's a lot of humor in it.

Meet the Artist: David Weinstone, Continued

Humor is a big element in your work. Can you talk about that?

There's a lot of poignancy in my writing, but there's also a lot of humor. And some of that humor is making fun of things. But it's not that I'm laughing at kids or parents. It's really to help them laugh at themselves when I write a song about a kid having a meltdown, or something like that.

How do you manage to appeal to both kids and adults?

I really don't hold back. I don't think about who I'm writing for. If I like it and it makes me happy, I'm putting it on the record.

So you don't deliberately incorporate lyrics or humor or references just for parents?

I never use insider jokes just for the sake of the parents. It's a thin line to walk where kids get the music on one level and appreciate it and parents are digging it for its intelligence or stylistic diversity or daringness.

Has your music changed lyrically as your three kids have grown?

No! If I wrote music about my 14-year-old son Ezra, I'd be writing about Xbox and PlayStation and "Oh, I missed my curfew, I hope I'm not in trouble!"

Copyright © 2010 Meredith Corporation.

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