Connecticut resident Sandra Boynton is hard to label. She's arguably one of America's most popular children's book authors. She's an artist whose whimsical greeting cards are wildly popular. She's also a music composer who's produced five albums and been nominated for a Grammy.
Her latest project, a celebration of country music, is a CD and songbook called "Frog Trouble," written for, as it says on the book cover, "ages one to older than dirt." Why country? Boynton is a Yale grad living in Connecticut: not exactly typical country music territory.
"People kept asking me why I hadn't done a country album," Boynton said, "and then I became intrigued." During her last project, which involved rock-and-roll, jukebox-era music, Boynton said she realized how foundational country music is to the material she loves. "My favorite singer of all time is Buddy Holly, and of course it's country," she said. "I became intrigued with where does country intersect with me, and that's the journey of this album, the most interesting journey I think I've ever taken."
The project brought Boynton back to childhood roots she had long forgotten. "I got to work with all of my favorite singers," she said. "Everyone on this album is someone whose music love, so it was pretty exhilarating." The several artists on the album included Ben Folds, Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam, Mark Lanegan, and Ryan Adams.
