Music Minute: Elliott Park - The Mouth

 Elliott Park, a Nashville-based songwriter known for his heartwarming lyrics and witty wordplay, will release a new recording of original songs on May 28th The Mouth.

The EP of seven original songs launches with “I’ve Watched Everything,” wackily wordy tune that will tie your tongue and lift your spirits. Sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Everywhere,” Park expresses his screen fatigue by listing all of the popular television shows he’s watched recently. With issues of face coverings still making the news, “The Mouth” celebrates the return of our most social body part. Likewise, “Me Me Me” is a timely and jazzy “song about the world gone wrong,” telling the story about a rock, a tree, the sea and the sand and their lack of empathy. Park’s love of wordplay comes through in the fake protest song “Silent Letters,” and the joys of baking (even for a novice) come through in “Lemon Pie.” The title track is a quick novelty tribute to all the superpowers of “the official spokesperson of the whole body.” “Matter of Fact” is a jaunty country ode to science, and the recording ends with the simply optimistic “The Bright Side.”

Elliott Park knows about songwriting. His songs have been performed by top artists at the Ryman Opry Theater and on programs like “Late Night” and “The Late Late Show.” He is perhaps best known for his 2006 song “I Loved Her First,” which hit #1 on Billboard chart.  Since moving from west Texas to Nashville, his songwriting has explored other genres and styles beyond country music.

His forays into family music writing have created a stir. His first children’s albums Just Be and Songs with My Daughters received wide critical acclaim, including the New York Times, which lauded the artist’s “accomplished vocals” and the “clever lyrics and catchy rhythms.” Park’s memorable songs regularly top on the SiriusXM Kids Place Live charts, including his pandemic-era single (released in April 2020)  Love Will See Us Through, featuring Lilah Benjamin, which spent 16 weeks (including 3 weeks at #1) on the chart.

As Kenny Curtis of SiriusXM radio asserts, “Elliott Park is the ‘comfort food’ of children’s recording artists. In today’s manic world, his songs wrap you like a blanket and warm you up like a mug of cocoa on a cold night.”

With an eye towards human foibles and parental fallibility, Park doesn’t take himself too seriously in these songs, but he is clear about respecting the audience: “Children don’t need the hand-holding as much as we think. They can enjoy more complex musical elements and just don’t need as much babying-down as we presume. I think there’s a need for the calm parental voice in children’s music…thoughtful, less frenetic and more focused than what you typically hear in the genre.”