Family Folk Machine

On Saturday, May 30, the Skipperlings will be opening for Jennifer Danielson at Uptown Bill’s at 7 p.m. The Skipperlings (formerly known as the Mud Puppies) are a vocal trio of kids who started singing together in the Family Folk Machine. They perform three-part arrangements of folk tunes old and new. Come check them out!

Last November we performed a collection of peace songs in our Peace Will Come concert. The Senior Center does a great job of recording our songs and uploading them so we can enjoy them at a later date: Read more

Happy Spring! It’s time to get together for some singing.

Join us this Saturday from 3:00 to 4:30 for our monthly all-request sing-along. Bring instruments, friends, neighbors, and children. We’ll have Rise Up Singing books, and Uptown Bill’s will provide the cozy atmosphere. Read more

Last Sunday we had a fantastic time singing our food and gardening songs at the Old Capitol. Thanks to everyone who helped us set up that appearance! We can’t wait to give the songs another spin this coming Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Senior Center. Read more

The Iowa Music Showcase did a podcast on the recently-released “For Kids, By Kids” album, and one of the featured songs was “Rocky Road,” sung on the album by FFM’s Caleigh, Greta, and Claire. Here’s the link:

http://iowamusicshowcase.blogspot.com/2015/04/episode-8-iowa-city-childrens-album.html

Thanks, Dan, for including our song!

Here’s an article Jean Littlejohn just posted yesterday about our upcoming concerts – tomorrow and next Sunday! Read more

Here’s our last highlight on our songs for our April 12th and 19th concerts! According to Wikipedia, Dan Zanes moved to New York City after he and his wife had their first baby. Read more

Bill Staines is well known as a traditional folk singer and song-writer and has been performing for over 50 years. He has many children’s songs to his name, and if you listen closely to Sweet Potato, you will hear that it is the perfect song to sing to get a baby to fall asleep. One particularly interesting thing about Bill is that he is left-handed, but plays a right-handed guitar – upside down with the bass strings on the bottom – therefore he has developed his own fingerings and picking style. Here’s Bill singing Sweet Potato:

What could be more nutritious than a plate of greens? May Erlewine was asked to write a song about a local food and calls this “a different kind of love song.” When we started practicing this song, Jean wanted a show of hands on who actually did love greens. I can’t say I’m a fan, but this song could probably make almost anyone want to give greens another chance! Check out May as she shares her love for greens!