These spots are pure fun. They shouldn't be thought of only in conjunction with elections or poltics. Stations should download them all if only for the archives or maybe the roll call of stations at the next PRPD. They're well produced, they're musical and chock full of wonderfully arcane Americana. The pieces include not only official state songs but official birds, trees, fish and amphibions; mottos, muffins, milk and more. What a country!
I thought this piece was an absolute riot. But at the same times it’s poignant and sweet without being cloying. I love the mixture of old and new recordings and the ones with the little kids really touch your heart. Find an opportunity to use this on election night. It’s a wonderful achievement.
I loved this piece! Fun and entertaining, very well mixed and produced. Most of the song clips feature the name of the state but it's also organized in alphabetical order so it's not that difficult to figure out which song belongs to which state. The individual state song pieces are also very enjoyable. The stories include some basic and quirky information about the state (motto, capitol, bird). In my home state of Ohio, who knew we had an official state fossil? Consider broadcasting these on election day. If you plan to do special local election night coverage, try using the medley piece (perhaps 30 seconds at a time) to fade in and out of NPR and your local election coverage. Of course, this assumes that the producer allows using parts of the piece at a time, perhaps in lieu of the usual music beds this piece can be split into one minute intervals for station breaks during election night coverage. Or perhaps it can air in its entirety at the end of your election night special. We'll all need a break and a little bit of humor by then.
The big weakness of this piece is that there's no intro, transitory or v.o. commentary - just snippets of each song. Would be better if a narrator compared contrasted song styles/regions etc. Without that I can't imagine someone listening through the whole thing, particularly if they tuned in in the middle of it...
Hey, this isn't the kind of thing you hear every day. I sort of wished you knew which state *every* song was linked to, but most of them were self-evident and it was a really satisfying listen. If the piece were nested in the right context, it would be the kind of thing you'd tell people you heard and be grateful to the eccentric person who took the trouble to make it, and to public radio for putting it on.
I should mention that this piece is the tip of the iceberg. The producer has put up ALL 50 STATE SONGS IN THEIR ENTIRETY here on the PRX, enough for a weekly series for a year!
Comments for 50 States in 5 Minutes
Produced by Jeff Brown
Other pieces by Jeff Brown
Rating Summary
5 comments
Mary McGrath
Posted on November 04, 2004 at 06:33 AM | Permalink
Review of 50 States in 5 Minutes
These spots are pure fun. They shouldn't be thought of only in conjunction with elections or poltics. Stations should download them all if only for the archives or maybe the roll call of stations at the next PRPD. They're well produced, they're musical and chock full of wonderfully arcane Americana. The pieces include not only official state songs but official birds, trees, fish and amphibions; mottos, muffins, milk and more. What a country!
Richard Paul
Posted on October 30, 2004 at 08:01 AM | Permalink
Review of 50 States in 5 Minutes
I thought this piece was an absolute riot. But at the same times it’s poignant and sweet without being cloying. I love the mixture of old and new recordings and the ones with the little kids really touch your heart. Find an opportunity to use this on election night. It’s a wonderful achievement.
Annie Wu
Posted on October 29, 2004 at 12:28 PM | Permalink
Review of 50 States in 5 Minutes
I loved this piece! Fun and entertaining, very well mixed and produced. Most of the song clips feature the name of the state but it's also organized in alphabetical order so it's not that difficult to figure out which song belongs to which state. The individual state song pieces are also very enjoyable. The stories include some basic and quirky information about the state (motto, capitol, bird). In my home state of Ohio, who knew we had an official state fossil? Consider broadcasting these on election day. If you plan to do special local election night coverage, try using the medley piece (perhaps 30 seconds at a time) to fade in and out of NPR and your local election coverage. Of course, this assumes that the producer allows using parts of the piece at a time, perhaps in lieu of the usual music beds this piece can be split into one minute intervals for station breaks during election night coverage. Or perhaps it can air in its entirety at the end of your election night special. We'll all need a break and a little bit of humor by then.
Matt Kaufman
Posted on August 11, 2004 at 12:11 PM | Permalink
Review of 50 States in 5 Minutes
The big weakness of this piece is that there's no intro, transitory or v.o. commentary - just snippets of each song. Would be better if a narrator compared contrasted song styles/regions etc. Without that I can't imagine someone listening through the whole thing, particularly if they tuned in in the middle of it...
Jay Allison
Posted on April 06, 2004 at 09:44 AM | Permalink
Review of 50 States in 5 Minutes
Hey, this isn't the kind of thing you hear every day. I sort of wished you knew which state *every* song was linked to, but most of them were self-evident and it was a really satisfying listen. If the piece were nested in the right context, it would be the kind of thing you'd tell people you heard and be grateful to the eccentric person who took the trouble to make it, and to public radio for putting it on.
I should mention that this piece is the tip of the iceberg. The producer has put up ALL 50 STATE SONGS IN THEIR ENTIRETY here on the PRX, enough for a weekly series for a year!