The Age Old Question: A Podcast for Music Fans · Rich Price and Clint Bierman

What Is The Greatest Children's Album of All-Time?

February 6, 2024·53 min·10 clips

Rich and Clint begin with a quick catch-up about a Las Vegas 25th-anniversary run for The Grift. Eight people who have mattered as members of the band over the years showed up, which makes the story feel like both a reunion and a running joke about how many lineups the band has had. From there, the episode settles into its real question: what children's album deserves the top spot? The hosts frame it as the kind of music argument they have been having since college. The tone stays loose throughout. Rich brings up a 2002 New Haven show where The Grift opened for Ziggy Marley. He remembers worrying that the crowd would not know what to make of the set. Ziggy's security guard becomes part of the story, remembered as a strict gatekeeper with a memorable warning. Rich also recalls trying a reggae-influenced version of one of the band's songs. A boisterous woman in the front row immediately shut that idea down. That memory gives the conversation an easy, lived-in humor. The discussion then turns to Johnny Cash's children's album. They note that it was released on Columbia in 1975. They also marvel at the fact that it was his 49th album. That number says as much about the era as it does about Cash himself. The episode keeps circling the idea that children's records can still feel like a real artistic detour. It also treats the genre as a place where famous artists can take a different path and still sound like themselves. Along the way, the hosts lean on memory, performance, and the emotional pull of hearing a parent-like voice sing to you. The talk keeps moving between jokes and admiration. It never gets stiff. By the end, the conversation has the easy swing of a friendly debate that has actually gone somewhere. It ends with the sense that they have found something true about why these records stick.

As heard by us

A loose, affectionate conversation about what makes a children's album stand out, with Ziggy Marley and Johnny Cash in the mix.

The piece asks a simple question and keeps it grounded with examples that actually fit, from Ziggy Marley to Johnny Cash's 1975 children's album on Columbia Records.

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Why you'd press play

You want a playful fight over the greatest children's album of all time, with real music nerd energy.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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