May 21, 2025 • 40 mins
Greg Lato is an award-winning family music recording artist, children’s book author, and proud Navy veteran. His last album ‘Adults These Days’ reached the top 10 on the iTunes Children’s Music Chart. His first children’s album ‘Create My Own World’ features legendary children’s artist Bill Harley. It has won a 2020 Family Choice Award, and a Creative Child Award and has reached the top 15 on the iTunes Children’s Music Chart. His songs are featured on 14 official Apple Music playlists and have over a million streams! Greg also released two children’s books. ‘Try’ is about not being afraid to take chances, and ‘Everybody Needs Someone’ is an inclusive ode to friendship, family, togetherness, and belonging. He is also a member of the Grammy Recording Academy. Born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Greg Lato was surrounded by an encouraging Italian family that included his father, legendary jazz sax player Vinny Lato, who owned an extensive vinyl collection that served as Greg’s introduction to the world of music. Greg went on to compose for film, TV, and other artists, most recently co-writing with The Voice runner-up Billy Gilman. Greg received two awards from the Billboard World Song Contest, had one of his music videos air on the FUSE channel, wrote a song for a film that went to #1 on the iTunes movie charts and spent 8 months in the Top 10, has written for network TV shows, has had his songs played in McDonald's, Subway, several department stores and Planet Fitness franchises, and co-wrote the Young Survivors theme song for the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation. goto @greglatomusic
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to another edition of Extra Connections here on JILG Media.
I'm James Loujingior. So I get to combine two things
that I just feel strongly about. Our military, you know,
come from a military family, and I just I'm feeling
strongly about that in our veterans and music.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I like both.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And this person is merging to Uh. He's been a
recording artist for a while now I'm gonna talk about
that in that whole career. You know, he's also a
Navy veteran. Thank you for your service, sir, Uh, and
about that. But he has this project that's combining the
t in a way that I've never seen before and
(00:42):
for kids and their families. Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's called Danny Lyon.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
If you're listening to us, you can't see it if
you're watching us, it's behind him and in his background.
But it's a whole and there's a reason what he
had is back there is right there and he talks.
We're gonna talk about how why Dandy Lion, I know why?
But why any line with that and then what the
projects about. I'm very excited help me. Welcome greatly to Greg.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
First of all, again I said again, thank you for
your service. I just anybody who serves our country. You
deserve whatever you need for us to help you in societies.
Whatever you want, you should have it. Well, very strongy
about that, So thank you, thank you very much. Also,
also I make music too. I love music. So I'm
(01:32):
very excited to talk to you about these projects and stuff.
But I want to start out first with your service.
So you were a Navy veteran. You are a Navy veteran.
It's just a little bit overview of what you know,
how long you were in and that kind of that
kind of stuff, what your rank.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Was on that.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So I was in the United States Navy for four
years and I was an aircraft firefighter on the flight
deck of an aircraft carrier. Oh wow, so the USS constellation,
which is no more that ship. But I was in
for four years from nineteen ninety six to two thousand,
(02:09):
and I was stationed in San Diego, Coronado. And yeah,
I just had an amazing time, met a lot of
amazing people that I'm still in contact with today due
to social media. So yeah, I mean traveled to many
different countries twice over. So I just had a lot
(02:32):
of amazing experiences at a young age. And yeah, very
proud of my service. As the years go on, I
get more and more proud of serving the country, you know,
as I get older.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Well, how does it feel when somebody like me says
thank you for your service and we're telling how strongly
feel about veterans.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
How does that make easy?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, I mean, it makes me feel great, you know.
But you know, I'm just very proud of of what
I've done. And you know, it's like looking back, it's
like I can't believe I did it. You know, It's
like all the things that I went through that you know,
(03:12):
it's just amazing to me when I look back that
I went through all those experiences. That's why I said,
it just makes you more proud as the years go
on of accomplishing the things that I did. While I
was in the military, I tried to really make the
best of it and get the most out of my time.
(03:34):
I got my college degree while I was in too
as well. I had credits before I went in that
were leading towards a degree, but I actually finished through
courses on the ship, and it was kind of like
the beginning of the online course thing. Yes, so I
(03:56):
really took advantage of that while I was there, and
actually my graduation was on the flight deck.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, pretty cool. Actually I didn't like that.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, why the Navy, They have several branches just graced
Why why the Navy.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
At the time, I wanted to be a firefighter and
I just had I knew somebody that was in the Navy,
and it was just like a friend of the families
and I was thinking about it, and they were like, Oh,
just come and meet with me and I'll talk to
you about my experience and you know, just let you
(04:34):
know the opportunities. So it's kind of like the friend
of the family was like my recruiter, so to speak.
And I really did want to be a firefighter at
the time, and I just saw the most opportunity and
the most probability that I would get on a fire
(04:55):
department and start off with aircraft firefighting. I actually wanted
to be a firefighter at an airport, so you know,
that's what I was looking at while I was still
doing music my whole life, but kind of just like
took a sidetrack there and and had that goal and
(05:18):
so it was very enticing to me to get into
that field, and then when I went to meet with
the recruiter, you know, they only reaffirmed, you know, all
of the answered all the questions, and you know, I
was really excited to start the journey with the idea
that when I got out of the Navy, I was
going to be a firefighter.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
My parents were airport police, to be a little side
of okay, all right, tired both retire airport police, so
had So it's funny. I've never heard anybody say specifically
they wanted to be a firefighter at the airport. We
know they exist and they're there obviously. Yeah, but I
can tell you my parents both did. My follow was
a navy man then he went into airport.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Wow. Okay, so you literally we're making connections.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, exactly, So that is possible. I mean I talked
to all the time. The airport needs fire people at
an airports police they need all of that sense and like
doctors and medicos, all kinds of stuff on airports.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Where are you from.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Originally I am from Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
That's right. I can hear it there, I can hear it.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
You can hear in the accent.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Right, I've been road. I've been to Rhode Island for us,
so I have Providence and I liked it.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I grew up in Providence and now I live in
narragantt which is closer to the beaches.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, and I I know, I have another footage from there.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Also. He's in the intercha business. It's like Rhode is
so small.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
It's like, yeah, everybody knows we all, everyone knows the guy.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, you know, it's like.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Totally and you're total East Coast because my family's from
New York, so I mean your East. I can tell
your East Coast guy, your East Coast. Yeah, and those
routes never leave you.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Like when I was stationed in San Diego, you know,
I was like it was almost like two other people
I was in the Navy with. I was like a
cartoon character or like a or like a somebody they
see on TV, like you know, like like from a
good good Fellas or Sopranos, like you know what I mean.
It was like that's what I was to them because
(07:22):
they never really heard or met anybody like me from
where I was from. So it was literally like I
was jumping out of the movie screen and they we
would all joke about that all the time, you know,
because we were all from different places, you know, and
well you had the California I mean in LA, so
you had the California experience.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So did you like the sun and the warm weather
and all that.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I loved it, Yeah, I mean I loved it, but
not to live like you know, make a life over time.
I mean I do still visit there because I made
connections in LA while I was in the Navy with
the music. So you know, that's kind of like how
things turned around for me, and it kind of stared
more towards the music. Yes, but you know, I do
(08:11):
visit there. I go to the Grammy Awards pretty much
every year, so I go back at least once a year.
My wife is from California. I met her while I
was in the Navy, Okay, so she was going to UCSD, yes,
and so we go back to see her family too.
So yeah, I mean still have, uh, make visits frequently
(08:34):
to there. But I'm an East Coast person at heart,
and I was while I was there, and just never really,
you never lose it, you know, It's it's always in you.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
My mother will tell you she's been here now longer
than she was in New York.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
But she's still in New Yorker. So say she's still
in New York. Just it doesn't go away. But here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So about Rhode isand brieflaced once, I like you, I
like your uh, your governor. I've heard her before. But
so I don't know what is Rhode Island. I mean,
we don't know much about it, like outside of it's
a small state. Yeah, we don't even know. And it's
not an island, not really right, we know. I mean,
(09:15):
what is something you think we should know about Rhode Island?
I mean that with it's just unique about it or something.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
It's just like a like a community as a state,
you know what I mean. It's like whereas you go
to other states and it's just because they're so big,
you know, Like it's it's like not everybody knows everybody.
It's like just maybe in like neighborhoods, you know, but overall,
like the whole state. You know, you could go anywhere
(09:44):
in the state and I'm sure like you know somebody
who knows someone you know or there's some connection to
you know. It's like everyone kind of knows everyone or
knows someone that knows a certain family, you know, so,
and obviously we're known for great food, especially Italian food.
(10:07):
There are Italian communities like Federal Hill in Providence that
has fantastic food and is known for that. People come from,
you know, celebrities go.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
To eat there.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You know, they have favorite restaurants in Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I had good pasta and.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yeah, so to me, I mean I'm biased, but like
nothing is like the food in Rhode Island, even if
I go to New York Boston, it's just something about
the food in Rhode Island that's.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Just for me, is the best. Though I do love Boston.
North End is the best. Yeah, it's one of the best.
I have favorite restaurants there, of course, But Rhode Island
is like a There are communities like Federal Hill is
like a small North End. It's like, you know, it
(11:00):
always has been known as that. So they have like
Italian feasts you know, every year and known for sausage sandwiches,
you know, sausages.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Speaking my language self gets me.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, it's all good. And obviously with the beaches, we
know where the ocean state, so we're known for beautiful
beaches and Newport we have the mansions and there's just
so much, you know, marine life, and so it's we
have like kind of like city life, and we also
have beach life and we have woodsy areas too. So
(11:38):
it's kind of like in a small state, there's like
the best of everything. If you want to live in
the country. We have farms, we have country land that
you can live among inner cities, and we have beaches.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
You want. I know, I love it. I do.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I love it. And Rhode Island is proud of me.
I'm sure hearing the anybody Fridan hears this. He was
a great advocate for a Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh, I hope. So I try to be You're good.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
You're good. Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So now we go into the music part, because so
you had, you know, you had, you were veteran and
all that stuff, and so I wait, so I'm gonna
go through some of your your your albums.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So I listened to all your albums, okay, went on.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Spotify and I had them all have two computers here,
and I was like, o're here at my.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Music and I was going through it.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
And so first one start, so Folks at Home, the
first album that you get to listen to is from
two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
We're talking sixteen oh.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, before children's music.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, and you were you look the same though to me,
you look to say, I don't. I don't. I mean,
you're not aging at all. I can see it.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
But I was thanks.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I was like, well, I was like okay, and it
was very much you know I say adult, I don't
mean like a doun't, but just like it was like
a grown up album, relationships and stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Very great.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
But the album that I actually really enjoyed from those
early years from twenty eighteen, Your Cassetting Suns Great Times.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
That was my yacht rock album.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And my favorite song was Lost Your Love. And I
was saying it's very you said, yeah, I said very
seventies and early.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Eighties, which is my thing. It's like my favorite. Yeah,
my favorite era of music is like late seventies early eighties,
which kind of falls into that yacht rock era. Yes, yeah,
that's my favorite kind of music. I love all kinds
of music. I mean, I go, I'm all over the place. Really,
(13:33):
my playlists are like like heavy rock to R and B,
Like you know, it's it's everywhere and in between. Okay, So,
but my favorite is yacht rock. And you know I
collect albums. I collect vinyl and when I go to
record stores, I frequent them wherever I travel, and I'm
(13:56):
always looking for the obscure yacht rock album.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I was gonna pull one out because I I here,
I mean actually get my background. But I just for
my birthday was last weekend and I went to rent
record shopping that was my favorite thing to do in
l A.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And I found a bunch of stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Where did you go? So in l A we have
a media which is yes, which I go to every year.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yes, it's good, but we have smaller ones to do
because I live and I lived in the airport Lax Airport,
a place called sound Stations here and yeah, I said,
you know, you know what, h we also have what
there's one there's actually I should mention that when I
went to also out in Tarzana, it's called C. D.
Trader's parking lot area to go inside there and also
(14:45):
where I live down where I live, we also have
uh Radar Records and it was the one called rough
Beat Recks. All these little record stores that like in Torrance, Hawthorn, Guardina,
where are you located?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I'm in Englewood. Okay, all right, l e X somebody
by the water by Lax.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So there's a bunch of South Station's five minutes rest
of my house, so we know the guys there.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
We go over there and we went record shopping.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
We just kind of went around and yeah, to find
some stuff because I have a record player, I have
a cassette player.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I have an AH player that still works.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Actually, that's awesome, I do so I keep things in shape.
But when you mentioned, yeah, you watched that documentary that's out.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, I liked it. I liked it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
But I tell you some folks aren't yacht rock, but
they're from that. Like they say, Hall Notes is in
the heart does yacht rock?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Well, they show they shunned the label, you know, like
Steely Dan does as well. Yes, But I mean, you know,
yacht rock is just like a bunch of guys that
raided you know, as yeah on yacht.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Right, So.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yes, So really it's just like a rating scale that
a group of people judge on, you know. So, so
it's not for the artists to say whether there's yacht
rock or not. It's that group of people, you know.
So I think why shun it because it only helps
you people more people to be exposed to your music.
(16:16):
I get it, if you've been around for fifty years
and you don't need any new fans, you know, you
might say that, but I think that most people should
embrace it because it's just another way to get your
music out there, especially music that is forty to fifty
years old. You know, it's like and it allows young
(16:40):
people to listen to the music and discover it as well,
which is should be the goal, you know, to span generations.
So I think it's it's a good thing, even though
it's you know, it's could be silly at times, but
I love it personally because it exposed I've been listening
to yacht rock before four was called yacht rock, yeah,
(17:03):
when it wasn't cool, you know, So now that it's
cool again, I like that, you know, so it only
validates my musical taste.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yes, why do you flect? So why bring this stuff up?
I wrote that then he had then he had album,
and then your first album with children's stuff was twenty
twenty with Create My Own World, which had that al
was because we had spoken word pieces in between, right,
oh yeah, and then twenty twenty two you came out
(17:35):
and again this the Halloween song I like, and then
this jump why bring it all of us?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And I noticed all you music tastes are in these songs.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
So I saying, people at home, listen to the music
is really good, like, listen to like and I'm just
for kids are adults. We just go to listen to
the music because you can tell and tell me from
right or wrong. I can tell your influences are in
these songs.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, I can't hide that, you know. It's like, actually,
the children's music I do is not that much different
from music I was doing before. It's just the lyrical
content is change geared towards kids and families. Which there's
no shortage of song ideas. You know, there's only so
many songs you can write about relationships and that whole thing.
(18:20):
And you know, how many ways can you say the
same thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
How many ways you say I love you?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yeah, it's only so many ways that have been done
and that you could think of, like you know, you
as in us, all of us. Right, So what I'm
saying is like once I started I had kids, Okay,
I would just make up funny things to stuff that
they would do. You know, I have two daughters that
(18:50):
are eleven and eight now. But you know, I've been
writing children's music since they were toddlers, okay now since
before COVID and I would just come up with funny
things to what they would do and and just make
songs out of them. But the actual music itself is
(19:10):
pretty much the same as what I was doing before.
And another thing about children's music is within one album,
you can explore many different genres, Whereas with the stuff
I was doing before, you pretty much have to stay
within a certain box. Now I can have many different
styles on one album, which I love because my musical
(19:33):
styles are all over the place, so I get to
just have fun.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
That's a good point, you know, because when you put
albums together as an adult, they want a theme. They
want to sound kind of easy, consistent with kids's just kids,
and we know that's a lot of kid albums. It's
like it's just you know, from rock to pop to
slow to wrap you to whatever you want. I can't,
He's right, folks at home, it's music basically the same.
(19:57):
It's just the lyrics are different. And how much is it?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So?
Speaker 1 (20:01):
His biggest song on Spotify. It's called I Love Sprinkles. Yeah,
at first I was the cupcake company here in California. No,
it's just like sprinkles.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I love that as a hit. I love that it
was a hit. There was this whole thing.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So when you come before we get to the Dan Aliamba,
but these other albums, how did you come to picking
what you're just making up songs for your kids? How
did you come to actually write songs for kids?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's just like observing my kids. At first, Uh, they
were putting sprinkles on everything. You know, they're putting on pancakes,
they were putting them on all kinds of things. But
then I kind of like took it a step further
and you know, made it silly, like what about sprinkles
on a hamburger, on a hot dog, on French fries?
Which they don't do, But I just made it, like
(20:56):
to add a bit of humor to it, you know.
So I kind of like take themes that I see
from my kids and just expand upon them and just
kind of like make them blow them out of proportion.
I guess, you.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Know, that's fine, that's fine. It's is It's.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
What ages are you kind of going for? You say, children,
Is it under eleven? That are twelve? Is it three?
That is there an age to be looking for.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, I would say like a like a ten eleven
is like kind of the cutoff age because my daughter
is eleven, and you know at eleven they start listening
to current pop kind of stuff. Yeah. Right, so once
you get into the tween age, that's where it's it
(21:44):
gets a little bit too. I'm too young for that.
So yeah, anything from like zero to through elementary school.
You know, I do you know, shows for daycare kind
of stuff, and most of my shows are at elementary
schools and family festivals for you know, for that age group.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I guess I'll try my other day because I have
friends who are breaking into the children's book market.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Also, Okay, you have some books out too, But.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
The thing was, I think there's a the children's market
is huge, and when it's almost like the holiday market,
when you get in, you're in, like it's pretty much
start getting in there you can have a successful career.
It's like you're saying you're performing at places where students
are on it. That's I think it's very cool that
you put out these albums. You're performing places because it
(22:36):
is a It can't be there's a whole market for it,
isn't there?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, there is. There's a lot of variety of places
you could perform, you know, and get exposure. And I
just love the audience, you know, at the shows. First
of all, I love that the shows are usually during
the day. You have to talk that around, like A
said afternoon, you know that, which is my time.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
It's like I'm a morning person, so I can't hang
at eleven o'clock at night at a club. You know.
It's like but so I'm glad like things have worked
out in this space because the hours are great. And
I love the audience too. It's like, you know, immediate
(23:26):
feedback for your songs. It's like the back and forth
you have during the show with the kids. It's very
interactive my show. So I love that too, which is
you don't get, you know, at eleven o'clock at night
at a bar. You know, it's like are you know
at a venue. So I just love the whole experience
(23:47):
of being a children's artist. I love performing for families,
and I just think there should be more of that,
you know. It's a wholesome content that it's it's for everybody,
no matter what you know, your background, no matter what
your beliefs are. You know, I just my music is
(24:08):
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
We like that. We need more of that.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So leading into Dan Lyon, which is your songs inspired
by military kids and families. When I heard about this project,
that thought, this is very cool. And Jenny Lyon, of course,
if you're a military family, you understand this.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
It's a term for kids, military kids.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, it's the official flower of the military child because
of its resilience. As a flower, it could grow anywhere
and when it blows, as you can see behind me,
it goes where the wind takes it. So just like
military kids, you know, they they move around a lot.
You know, they're always in a new school. There have
(24:47):
to adapt and change to different environments.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And so what I heard is that you actually talk
to a military family with kids.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yes, great song, explain that.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
So what I did was I set up meetings with
military families that had kids that were in elementary school
to middle school age. And what I would do is
sit down with them. All the meetings are filmed. I
brought a videographer with me to film every all the
tons of content for this album. I would sit down
(25:22):
with them and just have a conversation, ask them questions,
and just let it just flow into what we're doing
right now.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It's just just like a free form conversation and pick
their brain about military life, you know, ask the kids
questions and just let them talk, you know, and listen
to them, and from them, I got so many song ideas.
I got, you know, a lot of insight into what
(25:52):
it was like because I was genuinely interested. That's why
I started the project. I was interested based on my
military experivariance all those years ago. My interest has always
been there. I just never was able to tie it
into with the music until I got had this idea.
So this was a perfect time, and I listened to
(26:14):
their stories and I wrote songs based on whatever we
talked about.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Are there's some common themes that came through for.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
You, Yeah, So common themes were being the new kid
at school, so that was definitely a common theme some
of the families. One particular family, the kids haven't been
in a school for longer than a year and a half,
so constantly moving going to from school to school, starting over,
(26:45):
you know, once you year and a half and then
you start over again. Just think about what that's like.
You know, it's I don't know what it's like. So
I wanted to know, you know, right from the kids.
You know, do you like it? Do you you know?
What does home mean to you? Was a common question
I would ask them, and I would get different answers
(27:06):
from different families. Wow, so that was interesting to me.
I wrote a song called home is not a place
to document that particular question. Hi, I'm new here, opens
the album, and that was about being the new kid
at school like that. That's so again were common themes.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. I think that's it again.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Heard of the form where you actually so you actually
get certainly have a documentary too also, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, so I we're putting together content. I put a
little highlight documentary of just the meetings with the families,
and then I also have content. I did like a
week long songwriting workshop for twenty military kids at a
middle school, and I brought my recording equipment of the
(28:00):
auditorium and left it there for the week, and you know,
would go back every day and do the songwriting workshop
and then have them record parts for songs and I
interviewed them too, and so there's content from that whole
experience as well.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I love that, Hey, you're and you're also widelined this product.
You're going back to the kids, You're getting back to
the families. And I always say this, arts are important
in schools, whether it's dance, music, painting, draw I mean,
whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Music is of course I signed more music. It's it's
pro and shown to that the kids test higher in
other areas.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yes, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, study show
that kids excel in other subjects, math, science, you know, reading, comprehension,
all of that when they have arts programs in the schools.
(29:07):
So I think, like you know, I'm definitely a champion
for the arts and schools, and I in the future,
I do want to get more into that. After this project,
I do want to kind of do something with that
to promote more arts in schools because I think it's
so very important. It helped me in my development, so
(29:29):
you know, I know it does it for millions of
other kids. And to cut those programs usually that's where
they go first. Yes, when they cut programs in schools,
they go right for the music and theater programs. But
you know, hopefully, you know, they can see the importance
of that, and we need more people to show them
(29:50):
the importance.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I played sports as a kid and I did music
as a kid, and I will tell you both topic discipline.
Both taught me team like you know, player ship, play man.
It taught me. It taught me a lot of stuff.
And I got me off the house. You know, we
played games or play We played games or played games,
(30:13):
you know about right music and it just it just
both both taught me a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
That was just that's you know.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
And you said they will cut the music once first,
like no, no, no, wait a minute. The arts like now,
they're just as good as the sports stuff too. I
mean it may manifest differently, but it's like it's still
you learn, you still use your creative side.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
It's good for kids, to the kids up there.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yeah, if I didn't do drama club, I was in
the drama club and I did like musical theater in school,
I would not be doing music now if there were
no if there wasn't a program for that, because it
got me out of my shell. I was very shy
in school. I didn't talk to anybody at first, and
(30:55):
then I started going into like the talent shows in school.
They had talent shows before American Idol.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yes, we did too, we did too, yes.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Or it was popular, you know. I would go into
the talent shows and then I would just part of
the drama club and would be in all the productions,
and that kind of showed me what I can do,
you know, and it shows you what you can do
through your peers, through performing in front of an audience
for the first time. So all of that helped me
(31:26):
in my development and gut me out of my shell
socially too, not just with music, but also in life,
you know, to be able to speak in front of
a crowd of an audience or you know, just social skills,
networking skills, all of that which is so needed in
(31:46):
any profession that you go into.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
That's very true. So Deadline has how many songs?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
So there are thirteen songs. There's one song that's kind
of like a short interlude, but there are thirteen tracks.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Those thirteen family you talked to you, uh.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
No, I spoke with seven families, and I kind of
like doubled up on some of the songs. And there's
a couple of songs that's you know, because I'm a veteran,
so I use that too. I have a song about
veterans on the album and just a song about my
experience with my kids being a parent. So I kind
(32:29):
of like some of the families, I kind of doubled up,
like where one song is about what we talked about
amongst like a couple of the families kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, so you have two boys, two girls. I have
two girls. So as a person who had two girls myself.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Okay, I'm a grandfather. Now the kids, all right, bad
two girls and they were a year apart and age okay,
so I'll tell you it was the childhood was the
best parts. I will tell you teenagers they're pretty. They
were they were they were that were super Man. But
(33:07):
it's very interesting because I always I always like to
pass us on to just the fathers, which you throughout
just girls, you will learn so much that you won't
even realize till later. And so there's some things you
got to learn about yourself as a man that I
am very grateful to my daughters for teaching me just
I I know first, I know for a fact that
I'm and I feel like for you because you're an
(33:28):
artist like I am. You're an artist, they help you
probably in ways to be in tune right with your
feelings and stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Is that true? False? Was that for you?
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Sure? Yeah? I think I was the type to already
kind of be like that. I've always kind of been
like that anyway. I grew up with all girls pretty much. Okay,
I have a sister, and then I had cousins that
were most of my cousins were girls, so I was
like the only boy, you know, other than like another
(33:58):
cousin that we had, but in the immediate family, I
was the only boy.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Okay, okay, so you're ready, You're ready. Okay, you're right.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I have a lot of sisters too, but I I
had brothers as.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Yeah, I was never really I was always like, uh like,
I never played a lot of sports because I was
always into music and at a young age, I was
just like writing melodies, sitting in my room listening to records,
taking them all in, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But I tried sports and it didn't really work out,
you know, so I didn't get into that community. I tried,
but I didn't really immerse myself in that whole community,
which I am in now because my daughter plays soccer,
she plays flag football, she plays basketball, my older daughter.
(34:50):
So I love I love going to the games. I
love being in that community. I actually enjoy it because
I never really did it as a kid.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
That makes sense, makes sense? Yeah, my girls up, they're
both were. My one daughter was into water polo, which
I was like, your arms than I did when she
was cool, Yeah, like how do you do that? We're
all we're all swimming. My family a bunch of swimmers
and all that stuff. But when she said I do
water polo and the school offered it, I was like, sure,
well I'll pay for that, like let's let's try. And
(35:19):
she had she had upper body straight. That was crazy.
I was like at sixteen, I was like, okay, girls
staring daddy a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
And then my other daughter was into volleyball and soccer.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
U usual stuff. Some meany I. My girls were very
much into sports too. They're very very much in sports.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
My younger daughter loves cheerleading. That's her thing. There you go, okay, yeah, yeah,
so we went. We started going to like the chair
competitions this year. The sports.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Two kids, they don't don't realize.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Some competitions and they are for real, they're not.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
That's very cool. I so Danli, when does.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
It come out?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
So it comes on May.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Okay, that's why we're going to see the few now
because it's coming out like in a week or so.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
U yes, but it's come up with what data this
has come out for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
But if if it's past twenty third and you're listening
to this or watching it, it's out already.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
If it's before, it's coming out shortly, Derek, it goes.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
So I'm ra excited to give any plans to kind of
external plans for ROTI its besides and here it is
everybody coming up.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
So I'm just planning on releasing more content from this album.
I got shows coming up to ready for those. I'm
doing like a family festival in June. I have shows
all summer pretty much. Congratulations, good thank you. I'm doing
a residency at a camp, I'm doing library shows and stuff,
(36:47):
so I'm pretty well booked for the summer. So I'm
also just going to be releasing more music videos. I
did a music video for one of another for Old
School News School, which is on the album, which has
all military kids. I just put that out, and then
next week I'm putting out it's like a brain break
(37:08):
video for schools and for kids with a song called
Dipping Chicken.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I saw, yeah, I saw it.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
I follow my Instagram stuff so you can see it's fun.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
So I just started teasing that video which is coming
out on the nineteenth. So yeah, I'm just going to
be rolling out more content and just getting this album
out there.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
I like to do more with military kids as time
goes on and just get more involved.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Well, Danny Lyon is the album lato is. He's on
social media under that. He's also I fed him on Spotify.
I'm sure he's on Apples and all that too. But
if you want to find him there, you just just
type in his name. I'll put leaves below for stuff
and you can just you can find this take say,
listen to just all albums.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
To listen to those also, they're they're good. They're good.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Like I said, his music, you'll kind of be like
amazed because throughout the three albums and the singles, the
music is all about to say, it's just the lyrics
and content are literally different, that's all it is. That's
very very cooling. It's very cool. If well, I'll just say,
if you can say it out loud, if they want
to follow your stuff, go ahead and promote yourself.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
So it's Greg Lado Music is my handle on all
social media accounts. Just type in Greg Lado music anywhere, TikTok, Spotify, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
it's all Greg Lado music and then Greg Lado Dandelion
dot com is the site for the project, which has
(38:48):
like a one stop shop for all the videos, all
the music, and everything is on that website. Oh cool,
Thanks for that.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Thanksgreg for being on the shound.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Thank you very much, Thank you so much. This is awesome.
Thanks thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Folks.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Extra connections here, We're on Facebook, on the Extradection Show,
jail j Media and James Junior myself are everywhere else.
I everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, And I have music too.
To go into your face. Go to Spotify, Apple, James Junior,
you go find my music. Also not children's music, but
it's some fun stuff that's out there. I'm out there,
coming out there. But support folks, support the arts, just
(39:31):
in any form. I'm just I think anytime, creativity, no
matter what it is. I think let's just try and
keep them to keep them in schools, keep them at
camps and daycarees and centers, and then let's try to
keep all those programs up. And you know, and if
you have, if you have a talent of your own,
when to give some time back to your community, find
(39:51):
a way maybe find a way to do that. I
support that completely. I'm James Jr. We'll talk to you
next time
Speaker 3 (40:00):
At
Welcome to another edition of Extra Connections here on JILG Media.
I'm James Loujingior. So I get to combine two things
that I just feel strongly about. Our military, you know,
come from a military family, and I just I'm feeling
strongly about that in our veterans and music.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I like both.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And this person is merging to Uh. He's been a
recording artist for a while now I'm gonna talk about
that in that whole career. You know, he's also a
Navy veteran. Thank you for your service, sir, Uh, and
about that. But he has this project that's combining the
t in a way that I've never seen before and
(00:42):
for kids and their families. Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's called Danny Lyon.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
If you're listening to us, you can't see it if
you're watching us, it's behind him and in his background.
But it's a whole and there's a reason what he
had is back there is right there and he talks.
We're gonna talk about how why Dandy Lion, I know why?
But why any line with that and then what the
projects about. I'm very excited help me. Welcome greatly to Greg.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
First of all, again I said again, thank you for
your service. I just anybody who serves our country. You
deserve whatever you need for us to help you in societies.
Whatever you want, you should have it. Well, very strongy
about that, So thank you, thank you very much. Also,
also I make music too. I love music. So I'm
(01:32):
very excited to talk to you about these projects and stuff.
But I want to start out first with your service.
So you were a Navy veteran. You are a Navy veteran.
It's just a little bit overview of what you know,
how long you were in and that kind of that
kind of stuff, what your rank.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Was on that.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So I was in the United States Navy for four
years and I was an aircraft firefighter on the flight
deck of an aircraft carrier. Oh wow, so the USS constellation,
which is no more that ship. But I was in
for four years from nineteen ninety six to two thousand,
(02:09):
and I was stationed in San Diego, Coronado. And yeah,
I just had an amazing time, met a lot of
amazing people that I'm still in contact with today due
to social media. So yeah, I mean traveled to many
different countries twice over. So I just had a lot
(02:32):
of amazing experiences at a young age. And yeah, very
proud of my service. As the years go on, I
get more and more proud of serving the country, you know,
as I get older.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Well, how does it feel when somebody like me says
thank you for your service and we're telling how strongly
feel about veterans.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
How does that make easy?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, I mean, it makes me feel great, you know.
But you know, I'm just very proud of of what
I've done. And you know, it's like looking back, it's
like I can't believe I did it. You know, It's
like all the things that I went through that you know,
(03:12):
it's just amazing to me when I look back that
I went through all those experiences. That's why I said,
it just makes you more proud as the years go
on of accomplishing the things that I did. While I
was in the military, I tried to really make the
best of it and get the most out of my time.
(03:34):
I got my college degree while I was in too
as well. I had credits before I went in that
were leading towards a degree, but I actually finished through
courses on the ship, and it was kind of like
the beginning of the online course thing. Yes, so I
(03:56):
really took advantage of that while I was there, and
actually my graduation was on the flight deck.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, pretty cool. Actually I didn't like that.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, why the Navy, They have several branches just graced
Why why the Navy.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
At the time, I wanted to be a firefighter and
I just had I knew somebody that was in the Navy,
and it was just like a friend of the families
and I was thinking about it, and they were like, Oh,
just come and meet with me and I'll talk to
you about my experience and you know, just let you
(04:34):
know the opportunities. So it's kind of like the friend
of the family was like my recruiter, so to speak.
And I really did want to be a firefighter at
the time, and I just saw the most opportunity and
the most probability that I would get on a fire
(04:55):
department and start off with aircraft firefighting. I actually wanted
to be a firefighter at an airport, so you know,
that's what I was looking at while I was still
doing music my whole life, but kind of just like
took a sidetrack there and and had that goal and
(05:18):
so it was very enticing to me to get into
that field, and then when I went to meet with
the recruiter, you know, they only reaffirmed, you know, all
of the answered all the questions, and you know, I
was really excited to start the journey with the idea
that when I got out of the Navy, I was
going to be a firefighter.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
My parents were airport police, to be a little side
of okay, all right, tired both retire airport police, so
had So it's funny. I've never heard anybody say specifically
they wanted to be a firefighter at the airport. We
know they exist and they're there obviously. Yeah, but I
can tell you my parents both did. My follow was
a navy man then he went into airport.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Wow. Okay, so you literally we're making connections.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, exactly, So that is possible. I mean I talked
to all the time. The airport needs fire people at
an airports police they need all of that sense and like
doctors and medicos, all kinds of stuff on airports.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Where are you from.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Originally I am from Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
That's right. I can hear it there, I can hear it.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
You can hear in the accent.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Right, I've been road. I've been to Rhode Island for us,
so I have Providence and I liked it.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I grew up in Providence and now I live in
narragantt which is closer to the beaches.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, and I I know, I have another footage from there.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Also. He's in the intercha business. It's like Rhode is
so small.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
It's like, yeah, everybody knows we all, everyone knows the guy.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, you know, it's like.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Totally and you're total East Coast because my family's from
New York, so I mean your East. I can tell
your East Coast guy, your East Coast. Yeah, and those
routes never leave you.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Like when I was stationed in San Diego, you know,
I was like it was almost like two other people
I was in the Navy with. I was like a
cartoon character or like a or like a somebody they
see on TV, like you know, like like from a
good good Fellas or Sopranos, like you know what I mean.
It was like that's what I was to them because
(07:22):
they never really heard or met anybody like me from
where I was from. So it was literally like I
was jumping out of the movie screen and they we
would all joke about that all the time, you know,
because we were all from different places, you know, and
well you had the California I mean in LA, so
you had the California experience.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So did you like the sun and the warm weather
and all that.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
I loved it, Yeah, I mean I loved it, but
not to live like you know, make a life over time.
I mean I do still visit there because I made
connections in LA while I was in the Navy with
the music. So you know, that's kind of like how
things turned around for me, and it kind of stared
more towards the music. Yes, but you know, I do
(08:11):
visit there. I go to the Grammy Awards pretty much
every year, so I go back at least once a year.
My wife is from California. I met her while I
was in the Navy, Okay, so she was going to UCSD, yes,
and so we go back to see her family too.
So yeah, I mean still have, uh, make visits frequently
(08:34):
to there. But I'm an East Coast person at heart,
and I was while I was there, and just never really,
you never lose it, you know, It's it's always in you.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
My mother will tell you she's been here now longer
than she was in New York.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
But she's still in New Yorker. So say she's still
in New York. Just it doesn't go away. But here's
the thing.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
So about Rhode isand brieflaced once, I like you, I
like your uh, your governor. I've heard her before. But
so I don't know what is Rhode Island. I mean,
we don't know much about it, like outside of it's
a small state. Yeah, we don't even know. And it's
not an island, not really right, we know. I mean,
(09:15):
what is something you think we should know about Rhode Island?
I mean that with it's just unique about it or something.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
It's just like a like a community as a state,
you know what I mean. It's like whereas you go
to other states and it's just because they're so big,
you know, Like it's it's like not everybody knows everybody.
It's like just maybe in like neighborhoods, you know, but overall,
like the whole state. You know, you could go anywhere
(09:44):
in the state and I'm sure like you know somebody
who knows someone you know or there's some connection to
you know. It's like everyone kind of knows everyone or
knows someone that knows a certain family, you know, so,
and obviously we're known for great food, especially Italian food.
(10:07):
There are Italian communities like Federal Hill in Providence that
has fantastic food and is known for that. People come from,
you know, celebrities go.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
To eat there.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
You know, they have favorite restaurants in Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I had good pasta and.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yeah, so to me, I mean I'm biased, but like
nothing is like the food in Rhode Island, even if
I go to New York Boston, it's just something about
the food in Rhode Island that's.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Just for me, is the best. Though I do love Boston.
North End is the best. Yeah, it's one of the best.
I have favorite restaurants there, of course, But Rhode Island
is like a There are communities like Federal Hill is
like a small North End. It's like, you know, it
(11:00):
always has been known as that. So they have like
Italian feasts you know, every year and known for sausage sandwiches,
you know, sausages.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Speaking my language self gets me.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, it's all good. And obviously with the beaches, we
know where the ocean state, so we're known for beautiful
beaches and Newport we have the mansions and there's just
so much, you know, marine life, and so it's we
have like kind of like city life, and we also
have beach life and we have woodsy areas too. So
(11:38):
it's kind of like in a small state, there's like
the best of everything. If you want to live in
the country. We have farms, we have country land that
you can live among inner cities, and we have beaches.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
You want. I know, I love it. I do.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I love it. And Rhode Island is proud of me.
I'm sure hearing the anybody Fridan hears this. He was
a great advocate for a Rhode Island.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh, I hope. So I try to be You're good.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
You're good. Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
So now we go into the music part, because so
you had, you know, you had, you were veteran and
all that stuff, and so I wait, so I'm gonna
go through some of your your your albums.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So I listened to all your albums, okay, went on.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Spotify and I had them all have two computers here,
and I was like, o're here at my.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Music and I was going through it.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
And so first one start, so Folks at Home, the
first album that you get to listen to is from
two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
We're talking sixteen oh.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, before children's music.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, and you were you look the same though to me,
you look to say, I don't. I don't. I mean,
you're not aging at all. I can see it.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
But I was thanks.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I was like, well, I was like okay, and it
was very much you know I say adult, I don't
mean like a doun't, but just like it was like
a grown up album, relationships and stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Very great.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
But the album that I actually really enjoyed from those
early years from twenty eighteen, Your Cassetting Suns Great Times.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
That was my yacht rock album.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And my favorite song was Lost Your Love. And I
was saying it's very you said, yeah, I said very
seventies and early.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Eighties, which is my thing. It's like my favorite. Yeah,
my favorite era of music is like late seventies early eighties,
which kind of falls into that yacht rock era. Yes, yeah,
that's my favorite kind of music. I love all kinds
of music. I mean, I go, I'm all over the place. Really,
(13:33):
my playlists are like like heavy rock to R and B,
Like you know, it's it's everywhere and in between. Okay, So,
but my favorite is yacht rock. And you know I
collect albums. I collect vinyl and when I go to
record stores, I frequent them wherever I travel, and I'm
(13:56):
always looking for the obscure yacht rock album.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I was gonna pull one out because I I here,
I mean actually get my background. But I just for
my birthday was last weekend and I went to rent
record shopping that was my favorite thing to do in
l A.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And I found a bunch of stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Where did you go? So in l A we have
a media which is yes, which I go to every year.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yes, it's good, but we have smaller ones to do
because I live and I lived in the airport Lax Airport,
a place called sound Stations here and yeah, I said,
you know, you know what, h we also have what
there's one there's actually I should mention that when I
went to also out in Tarzana, it's called C. D.
Trader's parking lot area to go inside there and also
(14:45):
where I live down where I live, we also have
uh Radar Records and it was the one called rough
Beat Recks. All these little record stores that like in Torrance, Hawthorn, Guardina,
where are you located?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I'm in Englewood. Okay, all right, l e X somebody
by the water by Lax.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So there's a bunch of South Station's five minutes rest
of my house, so we know the guys there.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
We go over there and we went record shopping.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
We just kind of went around and yeah, to find
some stuff because I have a record player, I have
a cassette player.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I have an AH player that still works.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Actually, that's awesome, I do so I keep things in shape.
But when you mentioned, yeah, you watched that documentary that's out.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, I liked it. I liked it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
But I tell you some folks aren't yacht rock, but
they're from that. Like they say, Hall Notes is in
the heart does yacht rock?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Well, they show they shunned the label, you know, like
Steely Dan does as well. Yes, But I mean, you know,
yacht rock is just like a bunch of guys that
raided you know, as yeah on yacht.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Right, So.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yes, So really it's just like a rating scale that
a group of people judge on, you know. So, so
it's not for the artists to say whether there's yacht
rock or not. It's that group of people, you know.
So I think why shun it because it only helps
you people more people to be exposed to your music.
(16:16):
I get it, if you've been around for fifty years
and you don't need any new fans, you know, you
might say that, but I think that most people should
embrace it because it's just another way to get your
music out there, especially music that is forty to fifty
years old. You know, it's like and it allows young
(16:40):
people to listen to the music and discover it as well,
which is should be the goal, you know, to span generations.
So I think it's it's a good thing, even though
it's you know, it's could be silly at times, but
I love it personally because it exposed I've been listening
to yacht rock before four was called yacht rock, yeah,
(17:03):
when it wasn't cool, you know, So now that it's
cool again, I like that, you know, so it only
validates my musical taste.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yes, why do you flect? So why bring this stuff up?
I wrote that then he had then he had album,
and then your first album with children's stuff was twenty
twenty with Create My Own World, which had that al
was because we had spoken word pieces in between, right,
oh yeah, and then twenty twenty two you came out
(17:35):
and again this the Halloween song I like, and then
this jump why bring it all of us?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And I noticed all you music tastes are in these songs.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
So I saying, people at home, listen to the music
is really good, like, listen to like and I'm just
for kids are adults. We just go to listen to
the music because you can tell and tell me from
right or wrong. I can tell your influences are in
these songs.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, I can't hide that, you know. It's like, actually,
the children's music I do is not that much different
from music I was doing before. It's just the lyrical
content is change geared towards kids and families. Which there's
no shortage of song ideas. You know, there's only so
many songs you can write about relationships and that whole thing.
(18:20):
And you know, how many ways can you say the
same thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
How many ways you say I love you?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yeah, it's only so many ways that have been done
and that you could think of, like you know, you
as in us, all of us. Right, So what I'm
saying is like once I started I had kids, Okay,
I would just make up funny things to stuff that
they would do. You know, I have two daughters that
(18:50):
are eleven and eight now. But you know, I've been
writing children's music since they were toddlers, okay now since
before COVID and I would just come up with funny
things to what they would do and and just make
songs out of them. But the actual music itself is
(19:10):
pretty much the same as what I was doing before.
And another thing about children's music is within one album,
you can explore many different genres, Whereas with the stuff
I was doing before, you pretty much have to stay
within a certain box. Now I can have many different
styles on one album, which I love because my musical
(19:33):
styles are all over the place, so I get to
just have fun.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
That's a good point, you know, because when you put
albums together as an adult, they want a theme. They
want to sound kind of easy, consistent with kids's just kids,
and we know that's a lot of kid albums. It's
like it's just you know, from rock to pop to
slow to wrap you to whatever you want. I can't,
He's right, folks at home, it's music basically the same.
(19:57):
It's just the lyrics are different. And how much is it?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So?
Speaker 1 (20:01):
His biggest song on Spotify. It's called I Love Sprinkles. Yeah,
at first I was the cupcake company here in California. No,
it's just like sprinkles.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I love that as a hit. I love that it
was a hit. There was this whole thing.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So when you come before we get to the Dan Aliamba,
but these other albums, how did you come to picking
what you're just making up songs for your kids? How
did you come to actually write songs for kids?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's just like observing my kids. At first, Uh, they
were putting sprinkles on everything. You know, they're putting on pancakes,
they were putting them on all kinds of things. But
then I kind of like took it a step further
and you know, made it silly, like what about sprinkles
on a hamburger, on a hot dog, on French fries?
Which they don't do, But I just made it, like
(20:56):
to add a bit of humor to it, you know.
So I kind of like take themes that I see
from my kids and just expand upon them and just
kind of like make them blow them out of proportion.
I guess, you.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Know, that's fine, that's fine. It's is It's.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
What ages are you kind of going for? You say, children,
Is it under eleven? That are twelve? Is it three?
That is there an age to be looking for.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, I would say like a like a ten eleven
is like kind of the cutoff age because my daughter
is eleven, and you know at eleven they start listening
to current pop kind of stuff. Yeah. Right, so once
you get into the tween age, that's where it's it
(21:44):
gets a little bit too. I'm too young for that.
So yeah, anything from like zero to through elementary school.
You know, I do you know, shows for daycare kind
of stuff, and most of my shows are at elementary
schools and family festivals for you know, for that age group.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I guess I'll try my other day because I have
friends who are breaking into the children's book market.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Also, Okay, you have some books out too, But.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
The thing was, I think there's a the children's market
is huge, and when it's almost like the holiday market,
when you get in, you're in, like it's pretty much
start getting in there you can have a successful career.
It's like you're saying you're performing at places where students
are on it. That's I think it's very cool that
you put out these albums. You're performing places because it
(22:36):
is a It can't be there's a whole market for it,
isn't there?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, there is. There's a lot of variety of places
you could perform, you know, and get exposure. And I
just love the audience, you know, at the shows. First
of all, I love that the shows are usually during
the day. You have to talk that around, like A
said afternoon, you know that, which is my time.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
It's like I'm a morning person, so I can't hang
at eleven o'clock at night at a club. You know.
It's like but so I'm glad like things have worked
out in this space because the hours are great. And
I love the audience too. It's like, you know, immediate
(23:26):
feedback for your songs. It's like the back and forth
you have during the show with the kids. It's very
interactive my show. So I love that too, which is
you don't get, you know, at eleven o'clock at night
at a bar. You know, it's like are you know
at a venue. So I just love the whole experience
(23:47):
of being a children's artist. I love performing for families,
and I just think there should be more of that,
you know. It's a wholesome content that it's it's for everybody,
no matter what you know, your background, no matter what
your beliefs are. You know, I just my music is
(24:08):
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
We like that. We need more of that.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So leading into Dan Lyon, which is your songs inspired
by military kids and families. When I heard about this project,
that thought, this is very cool. And Jenny Lyon, of course,
if you're a military family, you understand this.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
It's a term for kids, military kids.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, it's the official flower of the military child because
of its resilience. As a flower, it could grow anywhere
and when it blows, as you can see behind me,
it goes where the wind takes it. So just like
military kids, you know, they they move around a lot.
You know, they're always in a new school. There have
(24:47):
to adapt and change to different environments.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And so what I heard is that you actually talk
to a military family with kids.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yes, great song, explain that.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
So what I did was I set up meetings with
military families that had kids that were in elementary school
to middle school age. And what I would do is
sit down with them. All the meetings are filmed. I
brought a videographer with me to film every all the
tons of content for this album. I would sit down
(25:22):
with them and just have a conversation, ask them questions,
and just let it just flow into what we're doing
right now.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It's just just like a free form conversation and pick
their brain about military life, you know, ask the kids
questions and just let them talk, you know, and listen
to them, and from them, I got so many song ideas.
I got, you know, a lot of insight into what
(25:52):
it was like because I was genuinely interested. That's why
I started the project. I was interested based on my
military experivariance all those years ago. My interest has always
been there. I just never was able to tie it
into with the music until I got had this idea.
So this was a perfect time, and I listened to
(26:14):
their stories and I wrote songs based on whatever we
talked about.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Are there's some common themes that came through for.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
You, Yeah, So common themes were being the new kid
at school, so that was definitely a common theme some
of the families. One particular family, the kids haven't been
in a school for longer than a year and a half,
so constantly moving going to from school to school, starting over,
(26:45):
you know, once you year and a half and then
you start over again. Just think about what that's like.
You know, it's I don't know what it's like. So
I wanted to know, you know, right from the kids.
You know, do you like it? Do you you know?
What does home mean to you? Was a common question
I would ask them, and I would get different answers
(27:06):
from different families. Wow, so that was interesting to me.
I wrote a song called home is not a place
to document that particular question. Hi, I'm new here, opens
the album, and that was about being the new kid
at school like that. That's so again were common themes.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. I think that's it again.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Heard of the form where you actually so you actually
get certainly have a documentary too also, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, so I we're putting together content. I put a
little highlight documentary of just the meetings with the families,
and then I also have content. I did like a
week long songwriting workshop for twenty military kids at a
middle school, and I brought my recording equipment of the
(28:00):
auditorium and left it there for the week, and you know,
would go back every day and do the songwriting workshop
and then have them record parts for songs and I
interviewed them too, and so there's content from that whole
experience as well.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I love that, Hey, you're and you're also widelined this product.
You're going back to the kids, You're getting back to
the families. And I always say this, arts are important
in schools, whether it's dance, music, painting, draw I mean,
whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Music is of course I signed more music. It's it's
pro and shown to that the kids test higher in
other areas.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yes, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, study show
that kids excel in other subjects, math, science, you know, reading, comprehension,
all of that when they have arts programs in the schools.
(29:07):
So I think, like you know, I'm definitely a champion
for the arts and schools, and I in the future,
I do want to get more into that. After this project,
I do want to kind of do something with that
to promote more arts in schools because I think it's
so very important. It helped me in my development, so
(29:29):
you know, I know it does it for millions of
other kids. And to cut those programs usually that's where
they go first. Yes, when they cut programs in schools,
they go right for the music and theater programs. But
you know, hopefully, you know, they can see the importance
of that, and we need more people to show them
(29:50):
the importance.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I played sports as a kid and I did music
as a kid, and I will tell you both topic discipline.
Both taught me team like you know, player ship, play man.
It taught me. It taught me a lot of stuff.
And I got me off the house. You know, we
played games or play We played games or played games,
(30:13):
you know about right music and it just it just
both both taught me a lot.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
That was just that's you know.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
And you said they will cut the music once first,
like no, no, no, wait a minute. The arts like now,
they're just as good as the sports stuff too. I
mean it may manifest differently, but it's like it's still
you learn, you still use your creative side.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
It's good for kids, to the kids up there.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yeah, if I didn't do drama club, I was in
the drama club and I did like musical theater in school,
I would not be doing music now if there were
no if there wasn't a program for that, because it
got me out of my shell. I was very shy
in school. I didn't talk to anybody at first, and
(30:55):
then I started going into like the talent shows in school.
They had talent shows before American Idol.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yes, we did too, we did too, yes.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Or it was popular, you know. I would go into
the talent shows and then I would just part of
the drama club and would be in all the productions,
and that kind of showed me what I can do,
you know, and it shows you what you can do
through your peers, through performing in front of an audience
for the first time. So all of that helped me
(31:26):
in my development and gut me out of my shell
socially too, not just with music, but also in life,
you know, to be able to speak in front of
a crowd of an audience or you know, just social skills,
networking skills, all of that which is so needed in
(31:46):
any profession that you go into.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
That's very true. So Deadline has how many songs?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
So there are thirteen songs. There's one song that's kind
of like a short interlude, but there are thirteen tracks.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Those thirteen family you talked to you, uh.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
No, I spoke with seven families, and I kind of
like doubled up on some of the songs. And there's
a couple of songs that's you know, because I'm a veteran,
so I use that too. I have a song about
veterans on the album and just a song about my
experience with my kids being a parent. So I kind
(32:29):
of like some of the families, I kind of doubled up,
like where one song is about what we talked about
amongst like a couple of the families kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, so you have two boys, two girls. I have
two girls. So as a person who had two girls myself.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Okay, I'm a grandfather. Now the kids, all right, bad
two girls and they were a year apart and age okay,
so I'll tell you it was the childhood was the
best parts. I will tell you teenagers they're pretty. They
were they were they were that were super Man. But
(33:07):
it's very interesting because I always I always like to
pass us on to just the fathers, which you throughout
just girls, you will learn so much that you won't
even realize till later. And so there's some things you
got to learn about yourself as a man that I
am very grateful to my daughters for teaching me just
I I know first, I know for a fact that
I'm and I feel like for you because you're an
(33:28):
artist like I am. You're an artist, they help you
probably in ways to be in tune right with your
feelings and stuff.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Is that true? False? Was that for you?
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Sure? Yeah? I think I was the type to already
kind of be like that. I've always kind of been
like that anyway. I grew up with all girls pretty much. Okay,
I have a sister, and then I had cousins that
were most of my cousins were girls, so I was
like the only boy, you know, other than like another
(33:58):
cousin that we had, but in the immediate family, I
was the only boy.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Okay, okay, so you're ready, You're ready. Okay, you're right.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I have a lot of sisters too, but I I
had brothers as.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Yeah, I was never really I was always like, uh like,
I never played a lot of sports because I was
always into music and at a young age, I was
just like writing melodies, sitting in my room listening to records,
taking them all in, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But I tried sports and it didn't really work out,
you know, so I didn't get into that community. I tried,
but I didn't really immerse myself in that whole community,
which I am in now because my daughter plays soccer,
she plays flag football, she plays basketball, my older daughter.
(34:50):
So I love I love going to the games. I
love being in that community. I actually enjoy it because
I never really did it as a kid.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
That makes sense, makes sense? Yeah, my girls up, they're
both were. My one daughter was into water polo, which
I was like, your arms than I did when she
was cool, Yeah, like how do you do that? We're
all we're all swimming. My family a bunch of swimmers
and all that stuff. But when she said I do
water polo and the school offered it, I was like, sure,
well I'll pay for that, like let's let's try. And
(35:19):
she had she had upper body straight. That was crazy.
I was like at sixteen, I was like, okay, girls
staring daddy a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
And then my other daughter was into volleyball and soccer.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
U usual stuff. Some meany I. My girls were very
much into sports too. They're very very much in sports.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
My younger daughter loves cheerleading. That's her thing. There you go, okay, yeah, yeah,
so we went. We started going to like the chair
competitions this year. The sports.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Two kids, they don't don't realize.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Some competitions and they are for real, they're not.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
That's very cool. I so Danli, when does.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
It come out?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
So it comes on May.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Okay, that's why we're going to see the few now
because it's coming out like in a week or so.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
U yes, but it's come up with what data this
has come out for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
But if if it's past twenty third and you're listening
to this or watching it, it's out already.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
If it's before, it's coming out shortly, Derek, it goes.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
So I'm ra excited to give any plans to kind of
external plans for ROTI its besides and here it is
everybody coming up.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
So I'm just planning on releasing more content from this album.
I got shows coming up to ready for those. I'm
doing like a family festival in June. I have shows
all summer pretty much. Congratulations, good thank you. I'm doing
a residency at a camp, I'm doing library shows and stuff,
(36:47):
so I'm pretty well booked for the summer. So I'm
also just going to be releasing more music videos. I
did a music video for one of another for Old
School News School, which is on the album, which has
all military kids. I just put that out, and then
next week I'm putting out it's like a brain break
(37:08):
video for schools and for kids with a song called
Dipping Chicken.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I saw, yeah, I saw it.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
I follow my Instagram stuff so you can see it's fun.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
So I just started teasing that video which is coming
out on the nineteenth. So yeah, I'm just going to
be rolling out more content and just getting this album
out there.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
I like to do more with military kids as time
goes on and just get more involved.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Very good.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Well, Danny Lyon is the album lato is. He's on
social media under that. He's also I fed him on Spotify.
I'm sure he's on Apples and all that too. But
if you want to find him there, you just just
type in his name. I'll put leaves below for stuff
and you can just you can find this take say,
listen to just all albums.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
To listen to those also, they're they're good. They're good.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Like I said, his music, you'll kind of be like
amazed because throughout the three albums and the singles, the
music is all about to say, it's just the lyrics
and content are literally different, that's all it is. That's
very very cooling. It's very cool. If well, I'll just say,
if you can say it out loud, if they want
to follow your stuff, go ahead and promote yourself.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
So it's Greg Lado Music is my handle on all
social media accounts. Just type in Greg Lado music anywhere, TikTok, Spotify, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
it's all Greg Lado music and then Greg Lado Dandelion
dot com is the site for the project, which has
(38:48):
like a one stop shop for all the videos, all
the music, and everything is on that website. Oh cool,
Thanks for that.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Thanksgreg for being on the shound.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Thank you very much, Thank you so much. This is awesome.
Thanks thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Folks.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Extra connections here, We're on Facebook, on the Extradection Show,
jail j Media and James Junior myself are everywhere else.
I everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, And I have music too.
To go into your face. Go to Spotify, Apple, James Junior,
you go find my music. Also not children's music, but
it's some fun stuff that's out there. I'm out there,
coming out there. But support folks, support the arts, just
(39:31):
in any form. I'm just I think anytime, creativity, no
matter what it is. I think let's just try and
keep them to keep them in schools, keep them at
camps and daycarees and centers, and then let's try to
keep all those programs up. And you know, and if
you have, if you have a talent of your own,
when to give some time back to your community, find
(39:51):
a way maybe find a way to do that. I
support that completely. I'm James Jr. We'll talk to you
next time
Speaker 3 (40:00):
At
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