Singing for the Soul of America
The Queen, The Maerick, and the making of ‘Hold Tight, Shine Bright’

What do these three faces have in common? On the left is the late Senator John McCain, whose life and service is being memorialized in Washington D.C. today. On the right, the late great Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, whose funeral today marks a week of celebration in Detroit, Michigan. The face between them is artist Micah Player’s depiction of a migrant child, caged and alone in a detention facility at the US-Mexico border. I can’t help but see the struggle for the soul of America, passed and present.
When Lucky Diaz and Mista Cookie Jar came over to our house two months ago to write a song about families separated at the border, we certainly didn’t know it would turn into a 27-track album to be released the same day these two iconic Americans were memorialized. But, in a weird way, it’s somehow appropriate — 33 artists across our diverse kids music community came together to contribute their creativity and income to make Hold Tight, Shine Bright, a compilation album of family music to benefit families separated at the border. Americans can differ on policy, but the dignity and humanity we accord all people — especially children — is something all but the most callous among us can agree upon.
At the memorial today, Joe Biden said of John McCain:
“His conviction that we, as a country, would never walk away from the sacrifices that generations of Americans have made to defend Liberty and freedom and human dignity around the world — it made average Americans proud of themselves and their country.”
If the thought of detained children breaks your heart when you hear these words, you’re not alone. The entire family music community has stood up and reaffirmed our pride in the American values of freedom and justice for all. Modeled on statements made by kids literature creators, Lucky Diaz, Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner and Bill Childs helped our community use its collective voice to articulate what we stand for in the face of what looks like, to any objective observer, the trappings of fascism.

We see kids all the time. Usually with their parents. We sing to and with your children, notice their little faces lighting up with joy, sitting quietly in your laps, wiggling around, jumping up because they can’t and don’t need to contain themselves, and we even love when they lose it when they’re tired or hungry or just ready to do another thing.
When we heard the terrible news about kids being separated from their parents at the border we were horrified. Why do we get to sing with some kids on sunny Saturday mornings, but others are far from home with no one they know in sight? We felt so viscerally — as music facilitators, community figures and as parents — that we had to do something we could do.
This summer we appeared on Kids Place Live to talk about Hold Tight, Shine Bright, a compilation album produced by ourselves, Lucky Diaz & Mista Cookie Jar. This collection of 27 amazing songs contributed by 33 talented artists will benefit RAICES Texas. RAICES is a non-profit organization that provides immigration legal services — which is still desperately needed at this time by many children and families on the border of our country.

Hold Tight features grammy-winners, Spanish language songs for families, and every genre of the spectrum — hip hop to indie rock, bluegrass to soul. Many of these songs are new, written just for this project, some you might have heard before — but they are all heartfelt anthems written and performed by artists who have dedicated their lives to working with children. Some are celebratory, some are somber — they are all appropriate for little ears, though some of them may create moments of conversation in your family.
This particular project is part of our mission to help children — ALL children. Because the work of growing up is hard work. And kids need to be allowed to be kids. To live and grow, to try and learn, to love and feel — on good days and not so good days. We have to be there for all of them, not just some.
We hope you love these songs — we hope you share them, and you can find them right here.

We are incredibly thankful to all the artists who contributed songs and all who made this happen — Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, Mista Cookie Jar & The Chocolate Chips, Lucy Kalantari And The Jazz Cats, Dean Jones & Shamsi Ruhe, The Pop Ups, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo & DJ Fireworks, The Gift of Gab , Alphabet Rockers, wonway posibul, Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could, Frances England, The Que Pastas, The Okee Dokee Brothers, Red Yarn, Todd McHatton, Genevieve Goings, Rhythm ChiPoppy Galactic & The Beat, David Tobocman, Laura Doherty Music, Nathalia, Play Date, Sugar Free Allstars Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights, Aaron Nigel Smith, Vered Ronen, Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower, and Suni Paz. Thank you as well to Dale Edward Chung, Beth Blenz-Clucas, Micah Player and Tori, Kenny & Mindy at SiriusXM Kids Place Live who are champions of music and its power.
Aretha Frnaklin and John McCain stand for very different things to different people, but both shared the deepest concern for the soul of America. If you and your family share this sentiment, we hope you’ll listen and share these songs. Thanks for reading, thanks for doing all you do — Andrew & Polly
