Do you have a child with a sleep disorder? If so, check out Sing a Song With Six Strings, the sleeper hit of the season. Artists like Vernon Reid, Carl Perkins, and Santana are very good at what they do, but what they do here is not very good for children. The songs are too nuanced. There’s nothing recognizable or catchy. If you have a child and some children’s music, you know when it’s annoyingly bad or pretty good, catchy stuff like They Might Be Giants’ NO! This CD is neither good nor bad, but merely innocuous. You can play it without bothering anyone, but why would you unless you worked in a dentist’s office? It’s a soundtrack to ease a root canal, but it’s not for kids, unless you want them to fall off their trikes.

On the plus side, the closing tracks “Once Upon a Tribe” and “Smokey Mountain Lullaby” are sweet melodies to soothe the savage, terrible two-year-old. These codas are dreamy in a “Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny kind of way, but don't expect to hear your kid singing along with these or any other tunes on Sing a Song With Six Strings. This compilation reeks of old rarities dusted off and thrown together for a quick buck. Only 6 of the 14 tracks here have not been previously released. - Jeff Kamin