There was a void to fill. A good funk album for kids. Here it is. The music stands on it's own. Just. Hit. Play.

1. Red Hot Lava (2:36)
written by Brett Warren, Andrew Levin, and Josh Friedman lead vocals: Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
claps and additional vocals: Brett Warren and Josh Friedman alto and tenor saxophones: Kenny Schick
lead electric guitar: Andrew Levin
rhythm guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
organ and Juno synthesizer: Max Cowan
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- inspired by morning freestyling to and from Kindergarten with my son Jude. 20 minutes one way, that’s a lot of opportunities to burn the socks right out your shoes! I took the idea to Brett Warren, whom will never admit that he writes pop music. We finished writing and recording the original demo in a couple hours. Later, after I had about 15 demo tracks for the album, I brought Clay Bandy to Gadgetbox studios in Santa Cruz and had him record some live drums. I just played the Apple loops I used for the demos, and had him record 3 different variations on each of the 15 loops. He didn’t really know what song he was recording, just variations on the loops. Then I took all those recordings and cut them up for the final recording. Can you tell? I sure can’t. What a fun process, that was the first time I’ve done the final drum recording without having the drummer learn the exact part. It was far out!
- Andrew Levin showed up to the studio at our last recording session, “Hey, sounds good. You want me to record something?” and who could say no to that guy? He had some great ideas, we included him as a writer for the song. Getting some hired guns on the rest of the track, this was the first round, and by far not the last, of saxophone tracks I got Kenny Schick to record. I went up to Berkeley to hang out with Max Cowan is his, “room that would make Stevie Wonder drool”. We ended up only recording on 2 of the infinity keyboards at his place that session.

2. My Purple Fox (3:06)
written by Cameron Stymeist, The Land of Deborah, and Josh Friedman
lead vocals: Josh Friedman
vocoder: Josh Friedman and Max Cowan
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
featured children’s vocals: Dylan Shelley, Levi Shelley, Jude Friedman, and Jozy Friedman alto and tenor saxophones: Kenny Schick
slide whistle: Jude Friedman
electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- on first meeting Cameron Stymeist at the TAXI Road Rally in Los Angeles, CA, it didn’t take long before we were collaborating. The main hook My Purple Fox was pretty much written on the 15 minute walk from our meeting spot to the demo recording in my hotel room / portable recording studio. We ran into The Land of Deborah along the way, “what are you guys up to?” she said. “Oh, we are in the middle of writing a song,” said me. “Wanna join in?” She did.

3. Live Like a Champion (2:56)
written by Iari Melchor, Marcus Barone, and Josh Friedman lead vocals: Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
featured children’s vocals: Dylan Shelley, Levi Shelley, Jude Friedman, and Jozy Friedman alto and tenor saxophones: Kenny Schick
organ and synthesizer: Max Cowan
electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- this song’s first life was going to be for the Summer Olympics 2016. Hired Beth Griffith to sing the powerful lead vocals. Turned it into a funk tune for kids!

4. I Got Mad Style (3:15)
written by Jessie Alsop and Josh Friedman
lead vocals: Jessie Alsop and Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
additional vocals: Kristen Cardiasmenos, Katie Brunner-Post
children’s vocals: Penelope Strong, Felicity Strong, Jude Friedman, and Jozy Friedman alto and tenor saxophones: Kenny Schick
electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- Jessie was there in the beginning. TAXI Road Rally 2014 was when Purple Fox and the Heebie Jeebies was born. I met Jessie Alsop in the registration line. She was there with her writing partner Richard Scott Naylor, with their writing project, “Echo Pirates”. I was with my writing partner Paul Goldowitz with our writing project, “Time Bandits”. Of course we needed to collaborate, I mean what is the alternative with the meeting of the Echo Pirates and the Time Bandits? That’s where we wrote the first song, “I Love You Jude, but I Hate it When You Pull My Hair”. That one didn’t make it on this album, but it is in the running for the next one.

5. 123 to Infinity (1:56)
written by Juma Spears, Joy Villa, Rachel Lynn Sebastian, and Josh Friedman lead vocals: Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones: Kenny Schick
lead electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
rhythm electric guitar: Andrew Levin
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- This was the second song that was written at the TAXI Road Rally in 2014. The second night, I knew I was onto something, and I knew it was big. I mean BIG. And bigger than me. I knew this was a movement. My goal was to get as many songwriters as possible. To collaborate. Especially the songwriters who never wrote kids song. Writing good songs, clean songs. Changing the kids music industry one song at a time. That’s what this song is about. This was also the birth of my record label, 8th Dynamic Records. My hotel room was on the 8th floor. Room 828 (or if you read it differently, Infinity to Infinity). Oh yeah, it was real.

6. Red Hot Hot Rod (2:34)
written by Brett Warren and Josh Friedman lead vocals: Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones: Kenny Schick organ: Max Cowan
electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- It’s electric! Commissioned by Robert Hammer to write a song. I got some inspiration from his love of cars.

7. Sugar (1:37)
written by Brett Warren and Josh Friedman
lead vocals: Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones: Kenny Schick electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- I don’t know about you, but my kids love pretty much anything with sugar. Although eating sugar is not the best thing in the world, it has definitely taught them about brushing their teeth! If you don’t wanna brush all your teeth, only brush the one’s that you wanna keep!

8. Chocolate Cake (0:12)
narrated by Jude Friedman
original classical guitar piece, “The Five Step” composed and performed by Josh Friedman

- Jude is a great teller of jokes. Pair that with one of the guitar studies that I wrote and recorded, “The Five Step”. Sheet music can be found in Josh’s Flash Pack, 20 guitar studies for the modern classical guitarist.

9. Funky Fox (0:27)
written by Brett Warren and Josh Friedman bass: Brett Warren
programming: Josh Friedman

- This is a song that Brett and I have yet to completely develop. Originally titled “Dad’s Cup of Coffee,” we didn’t want to make it just a dad thing. Or a coffee thing. And it is definitely funky thing. Hence, the name change.

10. The Flute Song (2:00)
written by Josh Friedman
lead vocals: Jessie Alsop and Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
children’s vocals: Dylan Shelley, Levi Shelley, Jude Friedman, and Jozy Friedman piccolo, shakuhachi, contrabass, alto, dizi, native american and C flutes: Meerenai Shim bass: Brett Warren
drums: Clay Bandy

- Meerenai Shim is my hero. She is one of the hardest working musicians I know. She commissioned me to write a song. So I hired her to record the flute parts. And that was just some of the flutes she plays.

11. The Question (0:16) narrated by Jude Friedman
original classical guitar piece, “Chimera” composed and performed by Josh Friedman

- Jude is also great teller of riddles. And pair that with one of the guitar studies that I wrote and recorded, “Chimera”. Sheet music can be found in Josh’s Monster Pack, 20 simple guitar studies for the modern classical guitarist.

12. I Love You, Infinity (1:36)
written by Mike Lounibos and Josh Friedman
lead vocals: Josh Friedman
harmony vocals: Lucie Blue Duffort
electric guitar: Kristen Cardiasmenos
ukulele: Josh Friedman
bass: Brett Warren
Logic drummer: Benny on the Motown Revisited kit, variations with the Stacks beat preset

- I reserved this song collaboration for Mike. Mike knows love. Mike knows kids. And Mike knows about what it takes to nurture kids with love everyday. The music for this one was fun to write. Mike basically took the melody, I took the chord progression, and we crafted it together, back and forth, beautifully contoured. I kept the original demo drums on this one, it just felt right.

all drums by Clay Bandy recorded at Gadgetbox Studios in Santa Cruz, CA.
Audio Engineer Colin Atkinson, produced by Josh Friedman
organ, Juno, and vocoder recorded at Max Cowan’s place, produced by Max Cowan and Josh Friedman
all other instruments recorded at Josh Friedman’s studio.
all tracks produced, edited and mixed by Josh Friedman
mastering: LANDR

- all liner notes written by Josh Friedman, edited by Linda Yelnick, manager.

...and if you want to know a little more about the back story....

Beautifully written by Paul Freeman of the Mercury News:
"Josh Friedman has had his share of serious music. Now it’s all about fun. He studied classical guitar and composition. But with colorful outfits, catchy songs and energetic fellow musicians, he’s happily fronting the kids band Purple Fox and The Heebie Jeebies.

“We just want to be entertaining. I love seeing people smile and dance in the audience. If I can entertain kids from 2 all the way through adults, that’s a success. We just played Hometown Days in San Carlos, and teenagers gave me high-fives,” Friedman says, laughing.

The band presents a participatory show with a sound fueled by horns and funk, mixing in elements of rock and hip-hop.

“That’s what makes me dance,” Friedman says. “And if people see me having a good time, that inspires them to have fun, too.”

Growing up in San Diego, Friedman was entranced by music, even as a small child. “One of my earliest childhood memories, my dad would put on 45s like The Who’s ‘Who Are You?’ and I would dance in circles around the room.”

In addition to rock, funk and dance records, Friedman was a huge fan of Swedish electric harpist Andreas Vollenweider. “I’ve always loved a wide range of music.”

He moved north to attend UC-Santa Cruz, earning a masters in music composition.

“I wrote tons of music for wild and crazy ensembles. I wrote a concert for guitar that went through a looper. I wrote a piece for juggler and Disklavier (a modern version of a player piano). “To tell you the truth, I never really had a strong end game,” he says, laughing. “I’ve been having fun with music. And that’s what’s gotten me to where I am now.”

After marrying and moving to Mountain View, Friedman joined the progressive rock band Fractal. In 2014, he started Purple Fox and the Heebie Jeebies. He had been writing pop songs, pitching them to established artists. Then he had an epiphany.

“I realized I needed to switch gears and write fun kids music. My muses are my kids. So that evening I wrote a song called, “I Love You Jude, But I Hate When You Pull My Hair.”

He lives in Sunnyvale with his trumpeter wife Jessica Morgan, 7-year-old, drumming, singing son Jude; and 5-year-old daughter Jozy. Jess and Jude perform with the Heebie Jeebies. Every weekday, when he’s walking Jude to elementary school, Friedman works on music ideas with him.

The name Purple Fox came from Jozy’s favorite color and favorite animal. Bassist Brett Warren dreamed up the Heebie Jeebies portion of the monicker.

The band’s first single, “Red Hot Lava,” is available on iTunes and CDBaby. Their debut album is due in July.

“I’ve been telling people that we already won the Grammy for Best Children’s Album for 2018 and 2019, that I came back from a time machine and told myself what I had to do. So I just have to fulfill that,” he says, laughing.

As for the repertoire Friedman creates, he says, “It’s not really an educational band. We do songs about love, kindness, respect, enjoying friendship.”

Musically, he keeps it interesting. “We can make it really fun without having to simplify it too much. The bass player is playing the style that Flea and Les Claypool play. And the guitarist (Kristen Cardiamenos) is playing intricate, funk guitar lines. So the music can be complex and tasty. That’s rewarding for the audience, but also for me, being able to craft a good song and play with high quality musicians.”

He has co-written a children’s book (with author Russ Towne and illustrator Christina Cartwright), “Purple Fox and the Heebie Jeebies,” available at shows and through the band’s website. “The book talks about how music can bring happiness to your life … and also to not eat too many sweets.”

Through the MidPen Media Center, Friedman creates the imaginative kids show “Afternoon Snack,” a local cable access program that can be viewed on YouTube.

At his main teaching location, a Los Altos suite, where he has set up a recording studio, Friedman gives private lessons in ukulele, guitar, singing, music composition and theory (www.myteacherjosh.com).

As a session musician, he has played for diverse artists, including chamber music’s Saint Michael Trio. Friedman has served as a manager for the Palo Alto chapter of West Coast Songwriters. His grown-up songs have earned placements in TV and films. But his main focus now is Purple Fox and The Heebie Jeebies.

Father, husband, children’s performer, rock musician, TV host, composer, teacher, author — so many hats! It’s enough to give a guy the Heebie Jeebies.

“I’m a Josh of all trades. I don’t have a lot of down time,” Friedman says, laughing. “I enjoy all the parts of my life.”