Artists like Dan Zanes, the former Del Fuegos frontman who has featured Sheryl Crow and Suzanne Vega on his kids’ albums, have given the genre credibility that it’s lacked. So have singers like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who has sung for kids–including his own–at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. “I grew up with traditional children’s music, folk music,” says Zanes. “I assumed there would be this updated version.” Rescuing this music isn’t an entirely weighty project. Sara Hickman’s got a song, “Goops,” about her daughter’s first eye booger.
