Grammy-winner and Brooklyn native Tom Chapin is coming back home to perform, and he’s taking requests.
“Guess what? I’m playing Brooklyn. It’s very cool,” said Chapin, who will bring his special brand of family-friendly music to the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 2 pm.
There, he will weave a lyrical spell that enchants not only his youngest listeners, but their parents as well. And anyone can log onto his Web site, in advance of the concert, to ask for songs they or their kids want to hear played.
And, they have plenty to choose from. Since 1988, when he first recognized his calling — writing kids’ songs that grown-ups like just as much as their offspring — Chapin has cut 11 family albums, with a 12th on the way.
The music, he said, gives him as much pleasure as it does his listeners.
“It’s fun to write, kid-friendly and adult-safe, and people can play it in their car over and over and over again,” Chapin told Family Magazines.
As Chapin tells it, it was his own parenting experience that made him realize that music for kids just didn’t cut it for all age groups — thanks to his then- 6-year-old and 8-year-old who enjoyed listening to the Beatles, Eagles and Bob Marley.
“They understand humor. They understand a story. And they aren’t interested in little duckies anymore,” he said. “So, I said it would be nice to write a record that I would like as a parent and yet my kids would like as well. I tell stories, play word games. The songs don’t have to be simple, but they have to be clear and interesting.”
And, he stressed, he expects to see parents sitting next to their kids when he sings, getting into the music as enthusiastically as their offspring.
“I’m not a babysitter,” Chapin said. “It’s you and your children enjoying the music together.”
Every concert he does is a collaboration with the audience, Chapin added.
“You learn ‘Family Tree’ in American sign language, and you learn what a didgeridoo does,” he said. “It’s a fun, interactive event,”
Indeed, as a true folk artist, collaboration is key to Chapin’s musical style. For the past 22 years, he said, he has worked with John Forster, Michael Mark and Jon Cobert to build a body of music with family appeal.
And, well before that, he cut his musical teeth as one of the Chapin Brothers, singing with his late older brother, Harry, renowned for such classic songs as “Cat’s in the Cradle” and “Taxi,” and their brother Steven, at Brooklyn Heights’ Grace Church, where he was a choirboy, and at Brooklyn Tech High School, where he and his brothers formed a folk music club.
He’s traveled a long road, Chapin added, since those early days.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” he said. “How blessed I feel that this is where I have placed my marbles.”
Tom Chapin in concert [Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College, Campus Road and Hillel Place. (718) 951-4500, Oct. 3 at 2 pm. Tickets $6 in advance, $7 at the door. For info or to purchase tickets on line, visit BrooklynCenterOnline.org. To request a song during the performance, visit tomchapin.com.
