Day at the Farm With Farmer Jason

You don't need to know that Jason Ringenberg (former frontman of Jason & the Scorchers) is an alt-country luminary to appreciate his first kids' record, but it helps. For one thing, if you're already familiar with his rodeo-rowdy yelps, they aren't so surprising in a song like "The Guitar Pickin' Chicken," and for another, the obvious enjoyment he takes in recording quacky numbers like "Whooaa There Pony!" and the rootin'-tootin' rocker "He's a Hog Hog Hog" come across as less weird. Anybody new to Ringenberg, though--toddlers, teens, and beyond--can harvest a tractor load of fun here, too. Hitch a ride on the bucking guitars and banjos of Ringenberg and multitalented George Bradfute, and the backporch is left way behind. Part hillbilly hootenanny and part rockabilly rave-up, A Day at the Farm will find Old McDonald hollering "e-i-e-i-o" with envy. --Tammy La Gorce