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Brand New Kids Album!!:

With a different instrument featured on each song, "Join the Band" is a musical tour de force by award winning musician, Ken Whiteley. With 19 songs, most of them original, this master roots musician is at his eclectic best.

Click for track listing

The musical journey starts with the soca strains of the title overture. From there we explore a cappella singing, gypsy jazz, jump blues, celtic harp, old time banjo, zydeco, several different world musics, rock trombone and a mandolin extravaganza that mixes the music of Vivaldi, Cape Breton and south side Chicago. The song “Leaves”, with exquisite flute playing by Kathryn Moses, has already won a “Song From the Heart” award from the Ont. Council of Folk Festivals for Best Children’s Song .

Joining Whiteley is an impressive list of 31 musicians and singers. They include George Koller and Dennis Pendrith on basses, Bucky Berger on drums, a horn section led by Sarah McElcheran, Lord of the Rings fiddler Anne Lindsay, singers David Wall, the Levy Sisters and Pat Patrick, plus children from the Alan Howard Waldorf School and the Oakwood Collegiate Chamber Orchestra. Ken himself plays twenty different instruments on the recording!

Few performers share Whiteley's credibility in both the children and adult musical fields. He has produced more than 100 albums, with sales of well over eight million copies and including two Grammy nominees. Recent accolades include a Genie Award for Best Original Song in a Canadian movie, Estelle Klein Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario folk music community and a Children’s Music Web Award. Artists he’s worked with have earned 20 Juno nominations and Juno winners with Whiteley-produced CD’s include Fred Penner and Al Simmons.

The recording is distributed by Merriweather Records. Ken Whiteley and Musical Friends will be debuting the cd at the Al Green Theatre in Toronto, followed by a busy summer schedule of appearances at concerts and festivals across the country.

Ken Whiteley's Childrens Music:

Ken Whiteley has been called the "Godfather of children's music" for his influential role in children's music. He has been performing since 1965 and making music with children for over 25 years. Accomplished on over a dozen instruments, his musical styles range through folk, blues, gospel, jazz, Caribbean, country, original songs and much more. Ken's most recent work for children is the Juno nominated "Musical Mystery Machines". With his customary superb musicianship and the support of his "Distinguished Colleagues", he presents simple machines and other basic science concepts for young children in a fun and accessible manner which spans many ages. Ken Whiteley and His Distinguished Colleagues (Bucky Berger, Dennis Pendrith and Kathryn Moses) also perform a broader selection of family musical entertainment as Ken Whiteley and His Musical Friends.

He has appeared on over a hundred recordings and produced work by Raffi, Fred Penner, Cathy Fink, Tom Paxton, Sharon,Lois & Bram, Kim & Jerry Brodey, Al Simmons and many others. Recordings produced by Ken have sold in excess of six million copies, won Juno awards and twice been Grammy nominees. He has received six Juno nominations as an artist.

Ken's performances involve children with many instruments and musical styles in a fun but not frenetic way. Experienced with all ages, he has performed in hundreds of family concerts, schools and libraries over the last twenty plus years. As one teacher recently put it, "I would rate the performance a ten out of ten!".

What The Critics Say:

"What a pleasure it is to work in a community with colleagues as talented as Ken Whiteley. For years he has been a beacon for children's artists, maintaining his own musical integrity and dedication."
• Sharon, Lois & Bram

"As a performer and producer, Ken has been the 'silver thread' connecting an entire industry. There cannot be a children's entertainer in Canada who has not benefitted from his work."
• Bert Simpson, co-writer of many of Raffi's "hits"

"Ken Whiteley is one of those rare individuals whose love for music is as strong as his performing ability. The Winnipeg folk connection deserves special congratulations for bringing a performer as good as Whiteley to Winnipeg."
• Brian Wolfe, Winnipeg Uniter

"The children's music industry today would not be as strong as it is were it not for Ken's constant involvement in just about every major children's musical artist performing today."
• Rob Dawson, Whitman Golden Ltd.

"Whiteley might best be described as the godfather of Canadian children's music. The list of artists he has worked with includes virtually all the major acts. From Sharon, Lois & Bram to Raffi, Fred Penner to Bob Schneider, Whiteley has helped them all."
• Christopher Hume, Toronto Star

"Possibly no one has been more successful as a producer of children's albums than Ken Whiteley."
• Bruce E. Baker, Dirty Linen #82