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1. Little Liza Jane

In different times, through different voices, “Liza Jane” has lived countless lives, and no two performers seem to interpret this song the same way. We made it a song about having friends in many places, a reflection of our years on the road with our band, and the special things that can happen in those places. We had to leave out many of our favorite cities that were difficult to rhyme, but if you can think of a good rhyme for “Portland,” “Boston,” or “Olympia,” let us know!

2. Who’s My Pretty Baby

One of my favorite songs from Woody Guthrie’s Songs to Grow On for Mother and Child is this one. I’ve been singing its song to my daughter Storey since the day she was born, and it never fails to make us both smile.

3. Zousan

Storey’s Love of Elephants drew us to this beautiful Japanese song. We dedicate it to the Thai Elephant Orchestra and to our friends at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island – Katie, Alice and Ginny.

4. Little Bird, Little Bird

My favorite recording of this song is by Pete Seeger on his Smithsonian Folkways album Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Fishes (Little & Big Animal Folk Songs). We listened to it every morning last summer while driving to camp with Storey’s cousin Athena who sings it with us here. The end of the track features the sounds of real birds outside our home – a Black-throated Blue Warbler and some of her friends.

5. Three Little Birds

One day last year, Storey came home from school singing the verse to this song she had learned in music class. Although we had heard this song a few times before, it was as if we were hearing it for the first time.

6. What Goes On

Our first children’s record, You Are My Flower, has a track called “Rock and Roll” that features the sounds of my nephew and niece rocking our with us when they were toddlers. Now they are big kids, and we still make music with them in our band Messy Chocolate. We thought that covering a Velvet Underground song was the perfect way to start a band. Try it at home!

7. Pa Na Tu Ri (Springtime outing)

Our violinist and friend, Jean Cook, taught us this song and sings it with us here. We couldn’t believe we found another bird song, and in Korean!

8. Buckeye Jim

How I love this magically surreal song! While reading Folk Song U.S.A. By John Lomax, I discovered that Fletcher Collins, a distant relative of my husband Daniel, was the first person to document this song. Fletcher then taught the song to his friend Burl Ives. Thank you, Fletcher! Storey’s friend Annika came over to sing this with us, then her mom Kristen joined in, then Storey’s Lola (the word for grandmother in the Philippines) started to sing, then Uncle Miggy…

9. Peace Like a River

This is a simple and inspiring song that speaks for itself. Storey plays the harmonica here.

10. Los Pollitos (The Little Chicks)

I learned this song from a Folkways record by Suni Paz called Alerta Sings and Songs from the Playground. Suni has dedicated a lifetime to spreading the message of peace and cultural understanding through her work as a musician and educator.

11. Winter’s Come and Gone

This is the first song we recorded for this album in our attic in Providence, Rhode Island, long before we knew we were moving to the mountains and making an album about birds. We forgot the last verse; our apologies to the songwriters, the great Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

12. Little Wing

Our friend Kirsten joins us here on Neil Young’s song from his album Hawks and Doves and in other songs on this album playing the flute. Kirsten is a great friend, ER doctor, and the best flautist in the Catskills.

13. Lily Pond

This song was written by Vashti Bunyan, a British folk singer and songwriter. She recorded one beautiful album, Just Another Diamond Day, in 1969, then left her life as a musician in London behind, moved to the country with her family and her cow named Bess, and didn’t make another record for 35 years. I am so glad she is making music again that the world can hear.

14. The North Wind

I used to sing this song with my students at the Roosevelt Island Day Nursery in New York City. On bleak winter days the children loved to sing and act out the plight of the cold little bird. We are joined here by Mr. John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful, another wonderful Woodstock neighbor, playing autoharp. When Daniel and I recorded this song with him at Levon Helm’s barn, we spent most of the session looking at each other in happy disbelief.

15. If You Listen

This song, originally recorded by French singer Françoise Hardy, is all about how listening can be a magical experience. We tried to arrange and record it in a way that would encourage people to listen imaginatively, not just to the words, but to a host of different sounds – distant birds, a harmonium drone, fingers gently tapping on the keys of a flute. All sounds can be musical, even silence, the rustling of leaves, the fluttering of wings.

16. Down in the Valley

Daniel used to sing this song with his father, Michael Storey Littleton. John Sebastian joins us again, this time on harmonica.

17. Grassy Grass Grass

I think this is my favorite Woody Guthrie song of all; for me it is a perfect bedtime mantra. In his writing about children’s music, Woody expressed his wish that people not follow his songs like a static text and sing them word for word. He wanted people to make up their own versions, to cultivate their own sense of creative freedom by listening to and learning from the children in their lives, something I strive to do every day. But Woody’s poetry is too powerful to simply listen to, and sometimes I need to sing it just the way he wrote it.