All Kinds of You and Me

2015 Parents' Choice Gold Medal 2015 National Parenting Publications Awards Gold Medal 2015 ASCAP Joe Raposo Children’s Music Award 2015 Fids & Kamily Industry Poll #2 Album of the Year "This is everything children's music can and should be." -Parents' Choice -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "All Kinds of You and Me" was largely inspired by Marlo Thomas’ landmark 1972 album "Free To Be… You and Me." For that groundbreaking release, Thomas gathered musical friends to celebrate individuality, tolerance, and changing cultural ideas about gender roles. Moock’s new album builds on those themes, reflecting on gender, ethnicity, and identity today, as well as the evolving concept of family in America. Says Moock, “Free To Be was a huge album for me and so many other kids of the 70s. Forty years later, it felt like the right time both to pay tribute to that amazing project and to try to push beyond some of the limitations of its era.” Indeed, bright and soulful songs like “It Takes All Kinds” and “My Life Is a Lot Like Yours” tread paths that would have been unthinkable in 1972, but are entirely kid-friendly in 2015. On the penultimate poem-song track “You and Me,” Moock talks about his experiences with Thomas’s album, and then introduces the social justice work of Dr. King, Harvey Milk, Gloria Steinem, and others, as well as the pioneering activist music of his boyhood hero, Woody Guthrie. The track leads into a rousing rendition of “This Land Is Your Land” to close the album. Like Thomas, Moock gathers an impressive group of musical friends to contribute to "All Kinds of You and Me," including Rani Arbo (of Daisy Mayhem fame), producer Anand Nayak (who frequently performs with Moock, Arbo, and Stevesongs), Jennifer Kimball (of The Story / Jonatha Brooke), Samirah Evans, Debbie Lan, and Mark Erelli. The colorful album cover art was created by Key Wilde, himself an award-winning “kindie” music artist and illustrator. Alastair Moock is a 2013 Grammy Nominee, two-time Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner, and four-time National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Gold Award Winner. The Boston Globe calls him calls him "one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters" and Time Out New York calls him "a musical descendant of Woody Guthrie who refreshes the classic brand of acoustic folk with a zany sense of humor.” Moock’s musical career has always been deeply entwined with his passion for education and social action. His previous release, the 2014 Gramy-nominated children’s album "Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World's Bravest Kids," was created as a free resource for families struggling with childhood illness. Born of Moock’s own daughter’s battle with leukemia (she’s doing great today), the album has been distributed to nearly 3,000 patient families, and Alastair and his band have performed at hospitals and cancer organizations around the country. Moock has also spearheaded fundraising shows and campaigns for organizations as diverse as GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders), The United Way, The Mass Literacy Foundation, and multiple political campaigns and community outreach programs.