Little Mo’ McCoury was released on 21 August 2007 on McCoury Music (MCM 0007). “Little Mo’” is a nickname for the mandolinist Ronnie McCoury, who leads the Del McCoury Band through a program of songs for children. The label billed it as the first all-bluegrass album for kids, and Ronnie has cited Grisman and Garcia’s Not for Kids Only as an inspiration.
The band is Ronnie on mandolin and lead vocals, Del McCoury on guitar and tenor, Rob McCoury on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle and Alan Bartram on bass; Carter and Bartram add harmony vocals on several songs. The sixteen tracks set children’s material such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” “This Old Man” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” beside Bob Dylan’s “Man Gave Names to All the Animals,” Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and Jesse Fuller’s “Monkey and the Engineer.” The bluegrass numbers include Don Reno and Jim Davis’s “Barefoot Nellie,” A. P. Carter’s “Jimmy Brown the Newsboy” and Earl Scruggs’s “Mama’s Blues,” a showcase for Rob McCoury’s banjo.
Most of the album was recorded in Tennessee at Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Hilltop Studios and the Butcher Shoppe. Children are part of the record: a group credited as the Kids of Cash Cabin sings on it, and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” was taped at Indian Lake Elementary School, whose fifth-grade chorus is also credited.
Tracklist
- 1 Man Gave Names to All the Animals 4:30
- 2 You've Got a Friend in Me 2:01
- 3 This Land is Your Land alt version 2:44
- 4 Monkey And The Engineer 2:31
- 5 Barefoot Nellie alt version 2:27
- 6 My Friend, My Guitar 3:11
- 7 The Big Rock Candy Mountain 2:46
- 8 I've Been Working on the Railroad 4:33
- 9 Mama's Blues 1:48
- 10 Goin' Ape 3:10
- 11 Teddy Bears' Picnic 3:30
- 12 This Old Man 2:48
- 13 Jimmie Brown the Newsboy alt version 3:20
- 14 The Fox alt version 2:30
- 15 He's Got the Whole World in His Hands 3:34
- 16 Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 1:35
