Music Minute: Tunes with Tim - We're All Human

 

Praised as "a Chicago VIP," Tunes with Tim (a.k.a. Tim Bredrup) is back by popular demand with the January 15 release of his second kids'/family album, We're All Human.

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Grammy-nominated Jamie Candiloro (R.E.M., The Eagles, Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson) and mastered by Grammy-winning Scott Hull (Sting, Steely Dan, Dave Matthews, John Mayer), We're All Human features 11 original songs loaded with Tim Bredrup’s characteristic Chicago friendliness, in styles ranging from pop, rock, and jazz to world and hip-hop.

Album highlights include "PBJ,” which is destined to become everyone’s favorite song that extols the glorious mixture of peanut butter and jelly. This number’s funky sounds are reminiscent of ‘90s hip-hop artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop Doog, Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy. “Ziggy Zaggy Zoo,” a tune inspired by the animals in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, dances to a variety of instruments that provide layer upon layer of Caribbean rhythms. ““Do the Wigglebutt” honors grunge/rock bands like Nirvana and Jet, while the sweet, semi-swing/jazz inflections of Tim Bredrup’s vocals on “Let’s Get Ready to Go” pay homage to the iconic stylings of Randy Newman.

Through a remarkable stroke of serendipity, members of Tim Bredrup’s family turned out to play critical roles in the creation of We’re All Human. The album’s origin can be traced back to when Tim learned that his sister, Kate Sprouse, had been making up short melodies and lyrics while attending to simple, everyday tasks with her toddler daughters. Tim and Kate took two of these song seedlings and, with plenty of TLC, watched them grow and blossom into finished tracks that can be heard on We’re All Human.

It just so happened that at about this time, Tim’s aunt, Jenny Graham, had come up with a number of children’s song ideas while she was on babysitting duty with her newborn grandchild. Aunt Jenny and Tim also began a songwriting collaboration, and together they turned out four songs that would proudly take their place in the line-up of We’re All Human. The whole family rejoiced to hear the accomplishments of brother, sister, and aunt.

“Family is everything,” says Tim Bredrup. “And that means all of us, together. I chose to name the album after my song ‘We’re All Human,’ which is a response to the racism, division, and hate that’s been surfacing in the U.S. of late. I wanted to try to counter that with a message of love, unity, and equality to remind people that we have more similarities than differences and that we can create a world where every child belongs to us all – and all of us belong to every child.”

Tim Bredrup invites kids and grownups alike to join him in celebrating the release of the second Tunes with Tim album, We're All Human, with a livestreamed Album Release Concert on Saturday, January 16 at 11:00 a.m. CST.

This family-friendly, live, virtual show will feature the original music of Tunes with Tim performed by the Tunes with Tim Trio: Tim Bredrup (lead vocals/acoustic guitar/foot percussion), Charley Bredrup (electric guitar/backup vocals) and Eitan Bernstein (keyboards/backup vocals).

We’re All Human will be available at iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp, and other digital outlets.

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