press.

Camptown Races come to town
Family concert to be held Saturday

by Brad Skillman
Staff Writer
Thursday, June 29, 1995

Lincoln residents may be able to complain about the heat and the bugs this summer, but they certainly won't be able to say they haven't been exposed to enough music.

Hot on the heels of the successful Live at Lincoln Library series will be three summer extravaganzas, including a Weston Road concert geared toward parents and children alike. Also scheduled this summer is DeCordova's popular jazz series and a family music series on Tuesday evenings at Pierce Park that commences July 11.

This Saturday evening, from 6-8 PM, residents are invited to attend Watson Reid and the Americana band sing some jazzed up children's tunes in a concert for the entire family.

The concert, which will take place at Walden Green, a converted barn located at 81 Weston Road and feature some of the area's top local musicians.

The concert is free. Recordings of the album "Pass It On: Songs to Share with Our Children, Volume 1" will be one sale, with a portion of the money going to the American Intergenerational Music society, a non-profit designed to promote music education and music that is part of the American culture, Reid said.

The album contains old children's favorites such as "Old MacDonald," "Mr. Froggy Went A Courtin'" and "Camptown Races," performed in different musical styles such as rockabilly and jazz so that the children will enjoy it as well as the parents, said director Michael Canfield.

"We tried to make a kids record for parents," he said.

The music and the performance is geared for kids who might be a little too old for barney, but too young for rock n' roll, Canfield said.

"What we're doing is trying to create performances and recordings of music that has been popular and meaningful to parents and grandparent's generations and presenting that in a new and contemporary fashion to make it appealing to children as well as adults," Reid said.

The concert, which will take place in the barn, will go on rain or shine. The gates open at 4 PM and families are encourages to bring picnics which they can consume on the fields outside the barn - or if raining - inside.

Raid, a former psychiatrist, is the primary vocalist, with other performers including Canfield, a former New York Rock/Pop Performer of the Year; Stephen Webber, the assistant chair of Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music; Matt Leavenworth, a two-time New England Country Music Association award winner; Billy Novick, a performer with the New Black Eagle Jazz Band; Jesse Williams and Evan Harland.

Walden Green studios are located on Reid's property in Lincoln. Reid has always had an interest in both music and philanthropy - after retiring from the psychiatrist profession last year, Reid decided to make a go of it with the band Americana.

Reid said he and his wife were invited to go along with Sen. John Kerry on a trade mission to China last fall to help promote Walden Green. In meeting with the China Record Corporation, Reid said they finally agreed to release an album of songs that was accessible to children, hence "Pass It On."

While it has already been released in the U.S., Reid is optimistic the album will become available in China in the coming months.

In the meantime, the group will work to sell the album in the region, while performing at a number of different venues in the coming months.

"So often music divides families along different musical styles," Reid said. "I'm hoping the main thrust of what we're doing is creating a positive family expression."