ONLY ONE OCEAN CD by the Banana Slug String Band Wins Parents’ Choice Award

April 6, 2011 - PRLog -- “[E]xpertly written and devilishly fun songs
that make children want to learn about how they can help the planet.”
2011 Parents’ Choice Award

ONLY ONE OCEAN, the brand new children’s educational music CD by the Banana Slug String Band, has been awarded a 2011 Parents’ Choice Award. Established in 1978, Parents’ Choice is the nation's oldest nonprofit guide to quality children's media and toys.

This is the third Parents’ Choice Award received by the Banana Slugs since the band’s inception. Previous albums, WINGS OF SLUMBER and PENGUIN PARADE were also so honored.

The goal of the latest release, ONLY ONE OCEAN, is to make fun, booty-shaking music that inspires youngsters to learn about – and care for – our precious ocean.

The 14 original songs range from indie rock and reggae to aloha jams and wild slack-key guitar riffs. “Going Down, Down, Down” gets funky about ocean floor geology to the bass guitar sound of Grammy winner Victor Wooten. Sweet voices of the children’s choir join indie rocker Brett Dennen’s unmistakable vocals in “Mountain in My Hand,” an ode to (that’s right) sand. A rousing sea chanty-style “Standing On My Head” gives a fun lesson about everyone’s favorite upside-down crustacean: “He’s a barnacle, a barnacle, he’s standing on his head.”

The Banana Slugs have been doubly honored in this year’s Parents’ Choice Awards. The song “Estuary Life” (from the band’s SLUGS AT SEA album) is featured on “Ocean Motion,” a compilation CD released by PARMA Recordings, which has also received a 2011 Parents’ Choice Award.

While wacky and fun, the ONLY ONE OCEAN CD (the band’s eleventh) has serious work to do. Four heavy hitting ocean science organizations, including the National Science Foundation-funded Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) – representing thousands of scientists and educators nationwide – co-sponsored the recording to raise awareness about the health of the ocean.

Every song on the CD is based on “Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12.” Associated curricula is available to help classroom teachers integrate the music into their Science lessons.

The Banana Slugs are joined on the album by a who’s who of musical prodigies. In addition to Wooten (of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones) and Dennen, the CD features Grammy winners Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil, and George Winston along with raging fiddler Tim Carbone from Railroad Earth and Zach Gill of ALO/Jack Johnson’s band on whimsical keyboards.

For more than 25 years, the Banana Slugs have seamlessly integrated excellent music for kids with accurate science. Always focusing on the positive and upbeat, the band teaches kids to love the Earth. They regularly tour, appearing on stages from the New York Museum of Natural History to the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

Why sing about the ocean? Climate, weather, even the oxygen we breathe is regulated by the seas. In fact, in the co-sponsoring group’s words, “All life, including our own, is dependent on the ocean.”

In addition to COSEE, the CD is co-sponsored by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) in partnership with NOAA (the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration); the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA); and Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Over the years, the Banana Slug String Band has won many other awards for its music including the Association for Independent Music Indie Award for Best Children’s Recording, a National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Gold Award and the iParenting Media Award.

To learn more about the Banana Slugs, visit www.BananaSlugStringBand.com.

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The award-winning Banana Slug String Band is toe-tappin' earth-lovin' music and science education at its best! From rockin' boogies to countrry, acoustic sing-alongs to reggae and rap, the Slugs will have you on your feet in no time.