music

Jewel

Lullaby

Jewel finds interesting angles on some very familiar material with this aptly named album of lullabies, digging up commonly overlooked verses to standards like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while offering twists of her own on originals like the Swedish-language “Sov Gott (Sleep Well).” That makes the gentle, acoustic Lullaby the rare suite of kids’ music that has something to offer to parents as well. However, one of its practical strengths is also its weakness—at 15 tracks and 58 minutes, Lullaby offers plenty of time for little ones to drift off to sleep but its lack of musical diversity eventually gets a tad wearisome.

• May 18, 2009
• by Chris Neal