If you haven’t listened to a children’s music album lately, it might be surprising to hear how much the genre has matured since the old days of “On Top Of Spaghetti” and “Be Kind To Your Web-Footed Friends.” Atlanta-based pop-rocker (and former CNN producer) John Boydston has been recording great tunes for kids under the name Daddy A Go Go for over a decade– so long that the sons he used to write songs for are now teenagers old enough to accompany him in his live band. His latest album features remixed and remastered versions of songs from his seven previous CDs, five of which made it onto Amazon’s “Best of the Year” critics’ list. Where his last album (Come On, Get Happy) featuring songs aimed at the younger set, uptempo rave-ups such as “I Wanna Be An Action Figure,” “Big Rock Rooster” and “Ants In My Pants” are clearly design to get teens and tweens a-boppin’. Most of the songs are original, featuring Boydston’s mixture of cheeky humor and classic rock riffs, but even covers like “What A Wonderful World” and “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” are imbued with his distinctive personality. Even if you don’t have kids, it’s pretty difficult to deny the infectious cleverness of a tune like the Dick Dale-influenced “You’re Not The Bossa Nova Me.” He may not exactly rock the casbah, but Daddy A Go Go is clearly the coolest dad in the carpool line. 

On Grandkid Rock -  “Like most “best of” compilations, the result is an ideal way for the uninitiated to get a taste of what the artist is all about. In the case of Daddy a Go Go, that’s good old classic rock-’n-roll with a decidedly southern bent, reminiscent of everyone from George Thorogood and Neil Young to early R.E.M and (I’m about to date myself once more) the Georgia Satellites, with tinges of ’90s alternative bands like Cracker and Belly thrown in for good measure.  The lyrics are the typical kid-topical, though Boydston keeps his tongue firmly in cheek throughout (e.g., song titles like “For Those About to Walk, We Salute You”). But whether he’s keeping the kids happy by singing about finishing vegetables or embarking on a rockin’ cover of “What a Wonderful World,” parents will be thrilled to find that they’re doing a little head-nodding to these songs, too.  

...serious when it comes to rocking out.  Enjoy.” Daddy A Go Go is surprisingly a band that’s been around for awhile making music for kids. Their latest release, Grandkid Rock, spans their six album history playing as a best of collection on topics ranging anywhere from baseball to adults watching cartoons but all done with no particular point other then to have a good time.

For a band that doesn’t take life too seriously when it comes to injecting lessons into their music, rather just everyday stuff that kids can really find common ground on, the band is serious when it comes to rocking out. This is without a doubt a band lead by the power of their lead guitarist and multi instrumentalist John Boydston. On vocals Boydston is a cross between Tom Petty, Roger Meade Clyne, and The Reverend Horton Heat. His guitar style reflects these comparisons as well. Yeah, I know. The Rev? Just listen to the track Big Rock Rooster and you’ll see the comparison as well. Overall, musically, the sound of the album is your working class rock band type. Not too flashy but could probably give Chuck Berry a run for his money.

Lyrically, as I said, you wont find any school lesson substance. This is the part of a kids life that’s all about free time, baseball, cartoons, world views from a kids perspective. As we drove into the next town to pick up our new pet I had the CD on for the kids, I had already listened to it by myself three or four times, and their reactions to it were great with lots of giggling and no complaints when the CD ended and turned over to begin again. With the inclusion of such classics as Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah and What Wonderful World even parents have something they can relate to but as far as listening to the album again and again. No problem. I am in love with the guitar sound on this album. Definitely not just for the kids. Enjoy.” 

Daddy A Go Go's CD Named one of the Top 25 Kids CDs of all Time by ParentDish.com

http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/28/parentdishs-top-25-albums-for-kids/

PEOPLE MAGAZINE – in the double ‘Beautiful People’ issue with the very beautiful Christina Applegate on the cover: In a feature on “KIDS AND BABY CDs that says, “whether you’ve got newborns, toddlers or grade-schoolers, these news discs will soothe and amuse. Listed among this who’s who of performers with new children’s CD’s is Come On Get Happy.

Children’s music by rockers is usually a creepy exercise in baby-talk pandering and tame musicianship, and often serves as a sad extension of a career long-ago extinguished. Thankfully, Atlantan John Boydston (recording under the non-de-pop Daddy A Go Go) avoids all the negatives and serves up a giddy and unrelentingly positive blend of excellent performances filled with clever word-play and enough family-friendly good times to satisfy even the sourest elitist. Come On, Get Happy is an invitation to sample the best of his delightful ditties which were carefully culled from his catalog of silliness and sincerity. The title track, better known as the theme to The Partridge Family, “Best Friend” (featured in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father) and “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” complete the candy-coated culture-smart universe of tunes.

FILED UNDER COOL THINGS: Enjoy a decade’s worth of the funky father’s relaxed ditties, including “I Caught My Daddy Watching Cartoons”

Story - When John Boydston goes to the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Tx next week, he'll be taking his kids,  as his band.   

"Some dads teach the kid how to field like Keith Hernandez.

Other dads teach the kid how to solo like Keith Richards.

Rockin' Dunwoody dad John Boydston was in his basement rumpus room on a recent Saturday afternoon imparting just such wisdom to sons Jake, 17 (on bass), and Max, 14 (on guitar), as they pounded through a few tunes preparing for their Saturday appearance at the super-cool Austin, Texas indie music festival, South by Southwest.

Lesson Number 1: Don't blow out your eardrums.

"I know you know this Max, but when you turn it up, the rest of us have to get louder too," said Boydston, 50, who, despite the pink Stratocaster, was looking dadly, in white beard and trucker cap. Max shrugged his shoulders, dialed his Les Paul back a notch, and the band (with friend Jonathan Paz on drums) launched into "I Don't Wanna Go to School." (Ramones-influenced chorus: "Ba ba ba ba, ba ba ba ba/I don't wanna go to school.")

As they rehearsed other tunes from Boydston's Daddy A Go Go repertoire, including "Daddy's Diaper Blues" and "I Can Swing By Myself," the teenagers seemed thoroughly comfortable with lyrics such as "I can tie my own shoes/I really got it down/I can do it by myself/My Mommy showed me how."

They know who their audience is, said Jake, and it's not teenagers. It's the toddlers and grammar-schoolers whose parents prefer rock 'n' roll to Raffi.

Boydston, a former producer at CNN, became a stay-at-home dad in 1993, and began catering to that kids-music niche in 1998, when he made his first Daddy A Go Go disc, "Cool Songs for Cool Kids," in his basement studio. Back then his kids fit that demo, and they were his target audience.

He got some airplay on XM Satellite Radio and he was invited to play the kid's stage at Lollapalooza in 2005. Amazon.com named that year's "Eat Every Bean and Pea on Your Plate" among the Top 10 kids CDs.

Selling his CDs on the Internet — several thousand a pop — was working out well, but playing live was a problem, since Boydston overdubbed most of the parts (with help from drummer Walt Brewer, who was the other half of DAGG for a few years).

Then Boydston discovered he could make his own house band with what he had around the house: offspring. "Rather than assemble a bunch of dads my age," he said, "I thought, how cool would it be if we could do this?"

Pretty cool. When the Boydstons performed on the family stage at South by Southwest in 2007, their first big gig as a family band, they trod the same boards that Atlanta rockers Mastodon would stomp later that evening. That night Dad and the boys went to see Iggy Pop rock a small barbecue joint. "The night before that we went to see Pete Townshend play an acoustic set," he said, with reverence in his voice.

Max, a freshman at the Weber School, and Jake, a junior at Pace Academy, are getting a great music education, quality time with dad, and they're wearing ear protection. That reassures mom, Cory Boydston...who dad sometimes lists as "executive producer..."

As a dad, Boydston knows whereof he sings, with the lyric: "I'm sitting here wondering with a clothespin on my nose/I've changed so many diapers, I might as well change my clothes."

That's a shout-out to "Matchbox" by Carl Perkins, by the way. Along with kid-friendly themes, the records are full of tongue-in-cheek references to the Beatles, the Ramones, AC/DC and others.

Father and sons (and friend) don't tour, but they have a few other engagements planned, including a private party in Brookhaven and a show at the Davis Academy in May.

Mostly they are looking forward to exploiting that "Artist" wristband at South by Southwest, which lets them get into any show they want to see. Their performance Saturday ends at 3 p.m., and Dad insists that they go directly to see Echo and Bunnymen at 5 p.m. for a little '80s rock history lesson. After that the kids get to choose."

Rock of All Ages "Best Children's Music 2008" by Amazon.com "It’s not strictly necessary to be a classic-rock kind of parent to appreciate this 12-pack of cool songs for cool kids (a follow-up to Daddy’s all-time coolest Cool Songs for Cool Kids from 2001), but as mastermind John Boydston, a.k.a. Daddy a Go-Go, might concede, it helps."  (more at Amazon.com)

Eat Every Bean and Pea On Your Plate, Editors' Picks in Children's Music, Best of 2006 by Amazon.com "A funny thing happens when you hear Daddy a Go Go for the first time, whether it's on this disc or any of the four preceding it: You can't help but wonder with mounting incredulity and a creeping sense of indignity how it is that this dude's not huge." (read more at Amazon.com)

THE SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: This collection, sure to be a hit, IS A MUST HAVE FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES…The catchy, upbeat songs will appeal to adults as well as children. The title song is a testament to encouraging children to eat healthy foods. ‘Irritation Man’ is an ode to the annoying younger sibling which includes the lyrics, ‘He’ll bother you more than a 25-pound mosquito. He’ll scare you more than a broccoli burrito.’ Parents will appreciate the humor on tracks such as ‘Dads Who Rock’ and ‘For Those About to Walk, We Salute You.'

FamilyFun Magazine -- "Guitars A Go Go would be more like it -- this is the rockingest kids' album around. While purveyors of preschool fare often keep things mellow, (Daddy A Go Go) aims for the 'tweens here and turns up the amps, conjuring everything from R.E.M to T-Rex, with results that ensure whole-family enjoyment."