Quick Hits: Three Cool Chips, Spanish STEM from 123 Andres

Country music songwriter Luke Laird had a great idea during his family's sheltering – give his kids (four-year-old Mack and six-year-old Jake) the opportunity to conceive their own tunes. This resulted in a six-song collection from the Cool Chips (which sounds better than Laird and Sons). There is inevitably duplication when an artist decides to enter the children's music arena, and the Cool Chips are no exception. Then again, when your songwriter partners' ages COMBINED are still less than one preteen, that's also be expected.

The natural world of Nashville (and the surrounding world) is explored in “Rocks, Worms, Dirt." According to Laird, crafting this tune got the kids on board for making more music. They followed with “Shootin’ Hoops,” “I Don’t Wanna Brush My Teeth," “Don’t Be Mean, Be Nice,” and "Night Night,” based on a chorus the Laird family had sung around the house. Mack closes out the EP with a beatbox-backed version of his favorite bedtime song, “You are My Sunshine.” You can't fault a four-year-old for his choice, even if it's one of the most-recorded children's music songs.

Listeners with exposure to myriad different recording artists will not find any new territory being disclosed with these six songs. But the beauty of contemporary performers entering the children's music sphere is they motivate their audiences to come and join them. Hence, potentially creating new audiences for children's music where there might have been kids previously familiar with only Disney and Kidz Bop. So kudos to Luke Laird and Sons (and wife Beth) – excuse me, the Cool Chips–  for their debut entry.

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For their fifth CD, 123 Andrés tackles the natural world and fall in love with everything STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Andres and Christina help Spanish speakers understand such concepts as "What is matter?" and "What is a telescope?" The release, entitled "Una Idea Tengo Yo (“I Have an Idea”), features 11 songs that answers those questions and encourages junior scientists to continue being curious.

COVID affects families across all races – and Spanish-speaking and Spanish-learning parents and children looking for ways to learn are the perfect target audience for "Una Idea Tengo Yo." The album also uses a healthy selection of rhythms and genres from Latin America – Andean huayno to Colombian chandé, plus cumbia, reggaeton, and more. Although I am far from fluent in Spanish, even I could deduce that “El Agua y el Viento” uses the melody from "The Farmer in the Dell" to discuss how water and wind affect the Earth's topography.

Coronavirus can only be solved with the intervention of science. 123 Andrés helps train those STEM-seeking minds of the next generation. The songs from "Una Idea Tengo Yo" can be streamed here on Spotify.

Here's a recent episode of their science-themed web series, focusing on "Inventions":