Little Folkies, Created with Love by Musician Mom Irena Eide, Inspires Tiny Listeners Through Seasonal Storytelling

With the folk music revival in full swing, Little Folkies – a San Francisco-based folk music program for kids under five – is gaining a devoted fanbase among tiny listeners, drawn to songs and storytelling inspired by folk greats like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

But parents and kids no longer have to dwell in California to enjoy the songs, stories, and music lessons created by Irena Eide, the nature-loving musician mom who co-founded Little Folkies (and also performs as Rainy Eyes).

On January 23, Little Folkies released its very first four-volume box set Songs for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter on Smithsonian Folkways, which features the full collection of songs for all seasons, featuring acoustic string instruments and Elde’s sweet, uplifting vocals. The box set, which comes with four songbooks, is perfect for parents and teachers, too: Along with the album, Little Folkies recently launched its teacher-partnership program to connect educators and communities to its repertoire of original and traditional folk, old-time and bluegrass songs.

Some of my favorites (so far): the feisty spring song “If I Had Wings,” and the earworm of a summer tune, “Swimmy Swim Swim.” Songs were created with kids in mind – with lyrics that are fun and simple to sing or dance along with (if they’re so inclined). And they won’t get bored, as there is, literally, a song for every occasion, from outdoor walks and sailing to bedtime.

“I was working with kids in my early 20s and I was so tired of hearing contemporary kids music and discovered Woody Guthrie in Pete Seeger‘s kids music and American folk songs for children by Ruth Crawford Seeger, and I just loved it and kept finding new songs and sharing them with the kids that I was teaching and taking care of,” she tells Rockmommy. “I have seen firsthand the positive impact these classes have on young children, and I would love for this program to be accessible to kids everywhere.”

Rockmommy caught up with Eide to chat more about Little Folkies, finding inspiration in motherhood, and which season is her favorite.

Rockmommy: Hello and nice to meet you, Irena! For those who don’t know you, can you tell us about your musical journey? Who were your influences?

Irena Eide: I come from a very musical family and I sang in choir from the age of 3 until I was 13 and started playing guitar when I was 13. If we’re talking earliest, earliest Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey comes to mind (haha!) but I remember learning Pete Seeger and Joan Baez songs in elementary school and in my teens, I got into Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Neil Young.

When I moved to the states at 19 I further discovered the vast canon of American Folk Music including Woody Guthrie and the Alan Lomax Collection, anthology of American Folk music, Hank Williams, and so on. I was obsessed and would get box sets from the library and used vinyl and spend hours listening and learning these old songs. 

Rockmommy: Let’s talk about your latest project: What inspired you to create Little Folkies for young listeners? 

Irena Eide: I was working with kids in my early 20s and I was so tired of hearing contemporary kids music and discovered Woody Guthrie in Pete Seeger‘s kids music and American folk songs for children by Ruth Crawford Seeger, and I just loved it and kept finding new songs and sharing them with the kids that I was teaching and taken care of.

Rockmommy: Starting out, what was your vision? How did you approach songwriting in a different way than your Rainy Eyes material? 

Irena Eide: I was living in Inverness, California at the time on the beautiful Point Reyes national seashore and the songs would just come to me as I was hiking and I would run home and write them down. I had met Pete Seeger and seen him do a kids music set and was so inspired and after that I just started writing song after song, something came over me.

Rockmommy: I love the variety of styles in the Little Folkies songs! How do the children you work with inspire you? 

Irena Eide: I always loved working with kids and my inner child is very present, I could just relate to kids and see the world from their view a little bit. I know and understand how to capture their attention with simple wording, repetitive lyrics, and movement and each song kind of took a life of its own.

Most of the songs took a few minutes to write and when my son Shiloh was born, I wrote a bunch more and finished the collection. A lot of the songs were just inspired by spending time with him; the planet song was inspired by a book I was reading for him and we just started singing the planets and that’s how that song came to life; ‘Horses in the Stable’ was written on a hike, I was trying to get him to fall asleep.

Whenever I would put him to bed I would say to him all the babies are going to sleep now and then I would name all his friends saying ‘Rowan is going to sleep and Enzo is going to sleep and the bunnies are going to sleep’ … and that’s how that song came about.

Rockmommy: How can parents, teachers and children get involved with little folkies? (I’m a guitar teacher and a mom – how would others like me be able to participate in this program?)

Irena Eide: Part of the vision with Little Folkies is to have Little Folkies classes all over the country and globally. We have launched a teacher partnership program where teachers can start their own classes and make a percentage of the income, and parents can also host a class and get a group of friends and other families in the community to join.

I have seen firsthand the positive impact these classes have on young children, and I would love for this program to be accessible to kids everywhere!

Rockmommy: Do kids have a favorite? Or does it vary depending on the day? 

Irena Eide: I do think in general ‘Wise Old Owl‘ might be one of the biggest hits — also ‘Rocketship’ — but I get people telling me all the time how much they love listening to the recordings and that it keeps their kids calm on long car rides and it doesn’t get on the parents’ nerves the way some kids music does (hehe!).  

Rockmommy: What is the best thing about sharing Little Folkie with children? 

Irena Eide: I really think that this music has a very positive impact on young children. It is incredibly gratifying to see the kids who come to class shy the first week of the session, and by the end of the week they are singing along doing the movements and dancing in the middle of the circle.

I’ve seen so many kids come out of their shell and parents too! Seeing parents singing along with no qualms and participating is a beautiful thing.

Also, a lot of folks have not listened to folk music and some don’t even know the name of the guitar so it is exciting to introduce people to this whole genre of music that they didn’t know they loved. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years and I’ve seen kids grow up taking little focus as young kids and now they play instruments, sing, and even perform.

Rockmommy: Do you have a favorite season? 

Irena Eide: I love all the seasons, but maybe spring is my favorite, or summer, honestly, that one has a lot of old songs that I didn’t write, but I just think they are so precious. I would like to do a whole other collection with more old folk songs because there’s so many that didn’t make it onto this box set.

Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the founder and editor of Rockmommy.