Record Review - 3 April 22 2004

Lending new meaning to the words “Kid Rock,” Atlanta musician John Boydston has carved a niche for himself with a series of retro-twang novelty CDs for children under the name Daddy A Go Go. His fourth disc, Mojo A Go Go, is another delightful assemblage of witty, uptempo tunes pitched at the 5-to-10 age group, but with definite cross-generation appeal.

A proud father of two boys, Boydston recruited an impressive lineup of other local parent-musicians for Mojo, including Big Fish Ensemble’s Michael Lorant, who drums during the rollicking “The Battle of the Bands,” and Elliot Dangar of the Penetrators, who pounds the skins on an arrangement of Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus & Lucy” revved up with so much electric organ and twang-guitar it sounds like Booker T. and the MG’s. The Jody Grind drummer Walt Brewer helps out on just about everything else.

Boydston adopts a fatherly conversational tone for “Scaredy Cat Cowboy (Pt. 1),” and manages an amusing faux-Brit accent during “Radio Dizzy,” a song that complains about bland FM programming and offers great jangle-guitar licks as an alternative. Mojo concludes with “Every Single Song,” a pleasantly rhythmic guitar instrumental written and performed by Boydston’s 9-year-old son, Max. It’s a fitting finale that hints that this project could have considerable longevity, even after Boydston becomes Grand-Daddy A Go Go.