Music Minute: Jesse Jukebox - Awesome!

With irrepressible energy and an outrageous sense of fun, Cleveland's beloved family musician, Jesse Jukebox (a.k.a. Jesse Friedberg), celebrates a positive message of high hope in his third kids' album, Awesome! Packed with lyrical wisdom born of Jesse's experiences growing up with ADHD, Awesome! will be released on January 17, 2020.

Awesome! holds a very special meaning for Jesse Jukebox, who, every day, strives to bring to children the message that, no matter what, there is plenty of "awesome" inside each one.

“When I was a child, I felt misunderstood. I didn’t quite fit in,” explains Jesse. “I had speech problems (I couldn’t say anything but the ABCs until I was 3), vision problems (I’ve had glasses my entire life), teeth problems (my overbite was out of control), learning problems, and behavioral problems. As a toddler, I was kicked out of a Daddy & Me class. When I was a bit older, I struggled in school. It was so hard to pay attention and understand the lessons. One teacher actually told me I was stupid. The faculty just gave up on me and advised my parents to expect me to never be more than an average to below-average student.  My parents didn’t give up on me though, and, with their support, I finally began to get the help I needed when I was diagnosed with ADHD. This led to many positive changes in my life. I switched to a new school and saw lots of different specialists (speech, motor, learning). It was then that I began to understand myself, and this opened the door to learning the skills I would need to enjoy a happy and productive life.”

Jesse continues, “So, what does all this have to do with my new album?  In a lot of ways, Awesome! is meant to remind kids who might be going through similar trials that they aren’t alone and to urge everyone to go on a treasure hunt for that sense of ‘awesome’ that lies within, waiting to be discovered.”

The title track comes bursting out of the chute with awesome energy, listing the many awesome pieces of a child’s world that just might have been overlooked. An ode to intuition, “Listen to Your Gut” is all about that overwhelming and sometimes terrifying feeling that comes with decision-making and how it usually helps to rely on our instincts. The message of “Incredible Shoes” is that even though kids are often different from one another, they can develop empathy through the simple connection of sharing things that are universally loved, like a new pair of shoes. “Complicated Kid,” a song dealing with themes close to Jesse’s heart, conveys how easy it is to feel misunderstood. We aren’t simply “bad” or “scared,” we’re just complicated!  “I Wanna Learn” explodes with an overwhelming ent

husiasm for learning, while “Where You Belong” is all about everyone’s quest to find their place in the world, comforting young listeners with the confidence that comes from a sense of self-acceptance.

Awesome! was produced by Grammy winner Dean Jones, and Jesse is quick to point out the enormous contribution Dean made to this project. Reflecting on the good times he and Dean had in their recording sessions, Jesse enthuses, “Dean was loose and open for collaboration, and he helped me write and record some of my best work.  We put a lot of energy into making the songs the very best they could possibly be. No doubt they aren’t perfect, but then music sung from the heart isn’t supposed to be. It should be beautifully flawed, just like people are.”

Awesome! will be available at Apple Music/iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Bandcamp, and CDBaby.

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Album Details: Awesome!
WAV files and CDs are available upon request.Release date: January 17, 2020
For ages 0 - 8
Label: Bovine Music
SRP: $10 CD; $5 digital download
Run time: 17 minutes

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For more information about Jesse Jukebox, please visit his website HERE.

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