Nerissa and Katryna Nields of Conway, MA writes:

Announcing…Rock All Day Rock All Night, the Nields’ second family CD!! This double CD reflects our work over the past two years running HooteNanny, our age 0-5 parent/child music class, in addition to more of those wonderful songs our parents taught us, and some surprises, too. As with All Together Singing in the Kitchen, our first family CD, we asked our dad John Nields to join us, and because we recorded over Easter weekend, we also got our mom, sister Abigail and her family plus our own families to sing too. The result is two CDs jam packed with music. Rock All Day is uptempos for, well, rocking all day, be you in the kitchen, the car, the living room or the dance floor. Rock All NIght is lullabies for rocking those babes to sleep, with or without their parents present. As usual, Dave Chalfant, our long time producer, guitar player and bass player has done a masterful job producing, playing along, and he even does a cameo as Aquaman. And Katryna did a gorgeous job with the artwork, with the layout assistance of the brilliant Meghan Dewer. This CD is so fun, we haven’t been able to take it off our car CD player. Lila keeps saying, “I want your new CD.” (She really wants to touch the CD on the silver side. I won’t let her. So mean.)

As of this writing, we are about to perform at Falcon Ridge, our favorite weekend of the year. This will be our fifteenth time playing there, and it’s the festival’s 20th anniversary. What will it be like this year? You reading this will know what I do not: whether the thunderstorms will be exciting or cause for consternation and much damp underwear. Who or what will be that wonderful gem discovered fresh this year? What will be the Falcon RIdge hallmark of 2008? What magical onstage combinations will take place?

For me, it’s the hope that 4 weeks before my due date I don’t drop the babe in the middle of the main-stage set. (Though the Gospel Workshop would be pretty cool…) It’s also the hope that in between all the performing, I can witness my daughter and my niece and nephew discover (or rediscover) the joys of face-painting, watermelon and all the different kinds of music represented there. I’ve been saying to Lila, “Five more days till Falcon Ridge!” “Four more days…” and each time she draws her breath in, as though I’ve just shocked her. Mostly she’s excited about seeing her cousins and her grandparents, but I bet she’ll like the music too.

And then we will be laying a bit low for awhile, though as you can see from our schedule, we already have some pretty swell post-maternity leave action on the books. We’ll write you in September to fill you in on our off-season doings. Meanwhile, stay cool, enjoy them dog days and eat lots of peaches, tomatoes, fresh local corn-on-the-cob and take a real vacation.

• Suggested Link: HFVS Weekly Giveaway: The Nields (book & CD)