The playful irreverence of R. Scully is on full display on his new release, Eat Your Toes: R. Scully’s Song For All Ages. The father of three compiled and recorded the songs during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has been one of those things that I have been wanting to do since William, my first child, was born, and with some time on my hands, I decided I should get it done before the kids are grown and out of the house,” he says.

This record is a true expression of joy from a voice that is most commonly attached to hard living and the excesses of New Orleans. “Children’s songs are not just Barney shit,” says Scully. “I believe we owe it to the parents to make them relatable and listenable to them also. Life is not always easy and everyone is not always good, but with the love of our friends and families we can usually find something to laugh and sing about.”

Scully has been piling up songs for children since he started writing music. In fact, some may say that his earlier work with Morning 40 Federation qualifies as children’s songs for adults. “The new tracks are basically the same thing without all the booze references,” he says.

These are not average kids songs, however. Although they contain deep expressions of love, they also explore stinky feet, runny noses, aching backs, eating toes, shades and pjs, being a bad dancer, staying in bed, rescuing dogs, and the importance of hydration. The album bounces from genre to genre, providing something for everyone. There are dance grooves, punk thrashes, county ditties, traditional jazz and boogie woogie tunes.

R. Scully is joined by the Tin Men of New Orleans and the Egg Yolk Jubilee Horn section on the most traditional-sounding songs then cranks up the distortion for a 40-second ode to making boom boom. There is also a companion song to his children’s book T-Roy’s Pirogue in which he sings the words of the book backed by a catchy Dixieland groove.

The digital album is available for purchase here.