As it turns out, no two families are exactly the same. And for young kids, that’s not the easiest thing for them to understand at first—especially if they’re used to growing up with a mom, a dad, siblings, and grandparents, it’s easy for them to assume that everyone else is too. But, being that we’re all living in the 21st century, the image of that “traditional” family doesn’t totally exist anymore—and why should it? Families can have one parent, two parents, grandparents, gay and lesbian parents, parents of completely different races, and everything else you can think of—which is AWESOME, and also why Grammy award-winning musical duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer’s kickstarter campaign for their 44th album, Dancin’ in the Kitchen, was successfully funded, and received a ton of praises.
Stocked with 15 rocking songs, Dancin’ in the Kitchen celebrates the love that binds all families together, independent of what shape, size, and color they are. One of my personal favorite songs on the album, “Twins,” features the artists The Canote Brothers, which Cathy Finker actually wrote for them. It chronicles what its like to live your whole life with someone who looks similar to you, but in reality couldn’t be more different. The song is folky as Cathy and Marcy play banjos, upbeat, and just downright funny. In the chorus, the two twin brothers sing, “Twins, Identical twins. We’re not fraternal, not paternal, sometimes we’re a little nocturnal, and similar! On the external. We’re identical twins.”
Besides a song about growing up a twin, there’s “Happy Adoption Day,” which celebrates adoptive families; “I Belong to a Family,” which was inspired by Marlo Thomas’s definition of family as, “a feeling of belonging; “Who’s In Charge of Naming The Colors,” which is a story about why common skin color names and real skin color names are different; and many more. The CD also comes with an insert that provides listeners with a short story about how each song came to be, as well as an area for kids to draw a picture of their own family right inside the case.
The album is available now through Community Music and distributed by NewSound. In the meantime, you can check out their music video for “Dancin’ in the Kitchen” below, and let us know what you think about it in the comments!
