Great Barrington — Author, cartoonist, and songwriter Sandra Boynton will appear at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Thursday, December 19, to talk about her new book and CD “Cows and Holly,” which she created in partnership with her longtime music collaborator Michael Ford. WAMC’s Joe Donahue will talk with Boynton about the project’s genesis and development, and they will screen some of the videos that Boynton and Ford have created to promote the album.
All of the songs on “Cows and Holly” were written by Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford.
In his classic poem, “The Cow,” from “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” Robert Louis Stevenson writes:
The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.
Sandra Boynton must have read Stevenson’s poem at an early age, because she has made a career out of celebrating bovine benevolence, and she really has it down to a fine science. In all of her whimsical depictions of cows, Boynton seems to have struck exactly the right balance between two well-known bovine traits: goofiness and kindliness. Boynton has sold nearly 90 million copies of her children’s and humor books, and prior CDs have gone Gold or Platinum.
Her latest bucolic offering is “Cows and Holly,” a book/CD product that Boynton wrote, illustrated, and directed. If you hate most Christmas albums because they are boring, pretentious, or in poor taste, then you might like the CD located at the back of Boynton’s book. If your taste runs toward artists like Yo-Yo Ma, who has never appeared on a trashy Christmas album; Lyle Lovett, the cool epitome of class and good taste; or Stuart Duncan, the dean of bluegrass fiddling, then you will be interested to know that the CD also contains contributions from vocalists Patti Lupone, Fountains of Wayne’s Chris Collingwood, Zooey Deschanel, Linda Eder, Raul Esparza, Patrick Warburton, Darcy Boynton, Michael Ford, Falls Mountain Camerata, Keith McEwan Boynton, and the O.K. Chorale.
Instrumental backing comes from Stuart Duncan, Fred Eltringham, Victor Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Rennie Pearson, and Kenny Vaughan.
The picture book contains illustrated lyrics and sheet music to all the songs.
Hear author, cartoonist, and songwriter Sandra Boynton explain her obsession with cows at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Thursday, December 19, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for general admission or $25 for general admission and a signed album/book. More information and tickets are available here.
