Grammy Award nominee Ralph's World gets on the phone for a chat with AtHomeDad.org. We cover a broad range of topics including the Wiggles, Rice Krispies, babysitting, righ tfield, Mozart, Purple Termites, and the Fillmore. See the full interview here.

Ralph, thanks for agreeing to speak with athomedad.org. Can you give us a bit of your background?

I grew up in Brooking, SD but jumped around the country. My dad was a professor looking for tenure. Eventually we ended up in Lombard, IL while my dad worked for the American Hospital Association. I ended up at the University of Iowa for college before coming back to Chicago.

You got your start in children's music at Chicago's famed Old Town School of Folk Music. How did that evolve?

I started doing Wiggleworms [a children’s sing along class at the OTSFM] because I was hanging out with my daughter. When I started I used classic rock, folk, and other “adult” music that I thought would entertain both parents and kids. But for me it all comes down to songwriting. Writing my own music is what I do, so I started writing my own songs. One of the earliest was “Four Little Duckies.”

How did you go from leading Wiggleworms to recording children’s music?

I did a few tracks at first for Old Town’s albums. Then one day the owner of Minty Fresh records brought his son to Wiggleworms and heard my stuff and told me I should record it. I wanted to make a great record that kids like.

How is writing kids’ music different than writing music for adults?

Ironically it’s not about making a kids record. I always ask myself how do I make a record that is a creative challenge musically and happens to be good.

My core philosophy is that there is no such thing as a good album. There are only great albums and forgettable albums. The same is true in most art forms. There are no good novels, just great and forgettable. So when I did our first Ralph’s World album [the self-titled Ralph’s World .]

Otherwise the process for songwriting is the same for kids and adults. You find the right chords, lyrics….

It seems that children’s music has really grown in popularity and complexity in recent years. Have you found that to be true?

It is bumping up. There is a real explosion.

Why?

There are a couple of reasons. I think parents and kids are a lot more pop culture savvy. I went to a program called Operation Spark, sponsored by Rice Krispies, which featured a panel of child development experts. I was on it, too. (Obviously someone made a mistake.)

Anyway the experts have found that parents now spend a lot more time interacting with their kids. They also want to make sure the time is focused, effective and valuable. Well if you are spending that much more time with your kids and you’re listening to music you want to listen to music that entertains you.

There are two fatal assumptions made by people who write kids music. One is that kids don’t need a high level of sophistication in their music. Second, parents are magically not involved with their kids. The Wiggle and Lori Berkner overlook or choose to ignore parents. They are not connected on focusing on anyone over the age of four. Of course the Wiggles earned millions of dollars last year so the joke’s on me.

How do you explain the growth of children’s music? You are played on most Top 40 stations. Do you find internet radio or satellite radio are prominent in the growth?

Word of mouth is still the biggest driver. Parents share their own interests. If you like an album or a group you pass that on. You might be wondering what to give someone for a child’s birthday and remember that “Hey, I really liked that Ralph’s World album.”

What other performers do you like in kids’ music?

I have to disqualify myself from the kids’ genre. I don’t really listen to it.

Fair enough. How about musical influences?

Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Willie Dixon, U2, Serge Gainsbourg, and Elliot Smith are a few.

Growing up I was a glutton for rock and roll. I had a gargantuan record collection in 6th grade. After school I would do my homework, eat dinner, and then spend two to three hours listening to the radio. I would have a tape in a player with my finger poised over the button. When a saw started I would record it. If I liked it I let it record. If not I would rewind and set it up again. It gave me a bizarre and eclectic mix of music.

In a pre-Ralph’s World melding of children and music when I was growing up I had pretty bad allergies to pollen. So while a lot of kids were out running around, I was home. Since I was home parents decided to hire me as a babysitter. So when ever I could I would hit the parents’ record stash. I listened to even more that way.

In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune the rock critic, Mark Caro, criticized you for “selling out” by having your recent House of Blues concert sponsored by Kellogg’s Rice Krispies? How do you respond to that?

I don’t think Mark understands the touring industry. I had an idea of putting kids’ rock shows in adult rock venues which would heighten the experience for both the kids and the adults. House of Blues is a much higher risk than a traditional kids’ concert location.

I made ½ of what I normally make by doing these concerts. Rice Krispies’ support was promotional. They helped market a new idea. It wasn’t as much money as you might think.

Would you do the same thing for a Bad Examples [Covert’s adult rock band] concert?

As the record industry contracts you need to find new ways to sell albums. Artists do what they need to do to make music available and survive. Corporate support and musicians are not new.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the system was called patronage. The king, price or pope would pay a composer to write music for him. The first to break with this model was Mozart who, when he needed money, he would compose a concerto, hire musicians, sell tickets, and put on independent performances.

It doesn’t matter if you are working for the church or King Joseph [of Hapsburg who hired Haydn] you could classify it all as “selling out.” The question you need to ask yourself as an artist is “Are you making music that true to your vision?”

Another Chicago SAHD [thanks, JimD] wanted to know if you were as bad at baseball as the kid in “Baseball Dreams” ? [From Ralph’s World ]

I was worse than that. I actually got really into the math of batting averages and would figure out my at-bats and hits and could never figure out why I never got above .000. I hit line drives that were caught but couldn’t understand why they weren’t hits.

Ironically, my best friend was the son of the local [Brooking, SD] baseball coach. He was a great athlete. We had a nice friendship balance. He would play percussion in my first band, the Purple Termites, and I would lob basketballs at the net with him.

Finally, a question from my wife. Where was your favorite performance venue?

I was a huge thrill to play the Fillmore in San Francisco with Ralph’s World. Parents were as geeked as their kids. You heard parents saying to their kids, “I can’t believe you are seeing your first concert at the Fillmore!”

Anything coming up you want to tell us about?
I would have people check out the website, www.ralphsworld.com. Also I think you should have the dads in Chicago come out for a dad’s night out to a Bad Examples concert.