The BummKinn Band: Press

It ain’t easy keeping up with the ever-growing inventory of family music, but it’s worth trying when you come up with little-known gems like this CD of country tunes for kids. Named after a guitar-picking cartoon character created by singer-songwriter Kimber Breaux, the Bummkinn Band delivers a jamboree of rootsy music that roams the prairies of Texas and even makes a few stops on the bluesy streets of Chicago.

Breaux’s original compositions mine the world of classic kid characters and nursery rhymes. Highlights off the 15-track CD include the countrified fairy-tale ode to buddies called “Friends,” the ‘50s-style rocker “The Bear With No Hair,” and the comforting lullaby, “Baby, I Love You.” Breaux takes her group of ace musicians and singers into a honky-tonk blues mode for several tunes, such as “The Traveling Show,” with gravelly lead vocals and a Stevie Ray Vaughan style guitar, and “Hey Mr. Humpty,” a story song about the old egghead getting a new lease on life.

With song craft and musicianship Nashville would be proud of and words young kids can relate to, the Bummkinn Band has itself a blue-ribbon winner of an album.

Monday, April 28, 2008

YeeHaw - A Giveaway!
A good country music song will tell you a great story, entertain you, and maybe even make you think.

But most adult country music songs tackle issues that are a little too much for young minds.

Enter The BummKinn Band. Rather than sing about ex-wives, trailer parks, and bar fights, they sing about things that kids can identify with, like broken toys, dropped ice cream cones, and playground friendships gone sour.

We loved last year's debut CD, and now their new disc, Rockin' The YeeHaw, delivers more classic country sound to the children's music scene. They also mix in a little rockabilly, bluegrass, and Southern rock on this fun 16-song collection.

Lead singer Kimber Breaux has a great big Texas-sized voice that kids and adults alike are going to find irresistible. She and her bandmates, Sam Nickell and Ryan Bueter, serve up a tasty down-home sound, with warm honey-dripped harmonies and perfect hand-clapping rhythms. Songs like "Woke Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed," "Crab Bit My Toe," and "I Dropped My Ice Cream On The Ground" are memorable favorites in my house.

Listen: "Woke Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed" (60-sec. clip)

The last track on the CD, "Rhinurtle Elesnail," is a wonderful story song about a strange creature (a combination of a rhinocerous, turtle, elephant, and snail) and its arrival in an old west town.

Rockin' The YeeHaw gets the highest recommendation from my family.

You can buy the CD, and listen to more song clips, at CD Baby.

The BummKinn Band - Rockin? the YeeHaw

COWBOYS & WESTERN WEAR! Maybe you first heard about The Bummkinn
Band here on Hilltown Families when HF Contributing Writer Bill Child?s
wrote about their performance at Kidzapalooza. Finally all those
unreleased songs they performed at Kidzapalooza in Austin, TX, have been
released on their new album, Rockin? the YeeHaw. Blending the sounds of
rock-a billy, southern rock and the traditional country influences of Hank
Williams ad Loretta Lynn, this is the kind of album I wish was around
when I was growing up in Texas. With songs like ?You Broke My Heart on
the Swingset? and ?I Dropped My Ice Cream on the Ground,? The Bummkinn
Band has put together a collection of unique country songs for kids.
It?s sure to get you two-steppin?.

Beverly Bixler
San Antonio Public Library, TX

Kimber Breaux and the other Bummkinn band members serve up a rootin'
tootin' feast of 18 toe-tappin', foot-stompin' tunes on topics such as
grumpiness ("Woke Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed"), injuries ("Crab Bit
My Toe," "Texas Sized Boo Boo," "I'm Alright"), dirty food ("I Dropped
My Ice Cream on the Ground.") and others. The final story/song relates
how a Rhinurtle Elesnail rides into a small, mostly dead town and helps
to bring it back to life. With lyrics that will appeal to youngsters
and musical stylings that will appeal to all ages, this album can be
enjoyed by several generations of the whole family.