Pop Talk by George Varga

Buck Howdy faced some formidable competition Jan. 31 at the Grammy Awards, where he went up against such big names as reggae star Ziggy Marley, actor Ed Asner and, um, Nelson Mandela.

But going head-to-head with established stars is nothing new for Howdy, the only artist who was nominated this year in both the Best Musical Album for Children and Best Spoken Word Album for Children categories. In 2007 and 2008, the veteran Poway, Calif., singer-songwriter found himself vying for children's album Grammys with such household names as the Muppets and Gwyneth Paltrow.

"If you're going to lose, you might as well lose to the big guns. The Muppets are pretty hard to beat," said Howdy (real name: Steve Vaus).

"Children's music may be in a tiny, little genre. But we approach it with great pride and enthusiasm, and that's what it's all about."

Yet, while he doesn't have the name recognition of some of his fellow nominees, Howdy has already earned major bragging rights.

In addition to having earned four Grammy nominations in the past three years, the first two with his now-former musical partner, singer BB (Pam Cypel), this year he became the first artist in Grammy history to earn nominations in the same year in both children's album Grammy categories.

Both of those albums, "Aaaaah! Spooky, Scary Stories and Songs" (which won for Best Spoken Word Album for Children honors) and "Pete Seeger Tribute — Ageless Kids' Songs" (which was nominated for Best Musical Album for Children but lost to Ziggy Marley), were released last year on Howdy's own record label, Prairie Dog Entertainment.

Both feature the impeccable playing of multi-instrumental wiz Dennis Caplinger, whose other credits include collaborations with Eric Clapton, J.J. Cale, Vince Gill and dozens more. Like Howdy's two Grammy-nominated releases with Cypel, "Aaaaah! " and "Ageless" each exude a broad, folksy charm and a cowboy-tinged flavor that should appeal to young and older listeners alike.

"Buck deserves all the accolades he's getting," said fellow Best Musical Album for Children Grammy nominee Greg Scelsa, who with Steve Millang has made 18 albums of music for children since 1975 that have sold a combined 4 million copies.

"The musicianship on Buck's recordings is great, and he puts on a terrific live show. I also think really highly of him as a person. He loves children and crafting music for children."

Beyond his music-making talents, Howdy is also hailed for his ability to create momentum for himself and for his peers.

"Buck is very good at getting out there and making things happen," said Jason & The Scorchers' rock singer Jason Ringenberg, who — as Farmer Jason — now also works as a children's music artist. "He's a team player and really supportive of other artists. Everyone likes Buck — he connects a lot of people together."

Howdy, 57, is a Los Angeles native who grew up primarily on his family's 100-acre cattle ranch in Oregon. It was then, at age 6, that he learned to play guitar and to ride horses, two passions he has retained to this day.

"My dad was a gangster-turned-evangelist," said Howdy, who lives in Poway, Calif., with his second wife, Corrie, and their two children, Anna, 13, and Jacob, 11. "Both my parents were great singers and I remember my dad and mom singing at home while my dad played autoharp. On family trips, we'd all sing together in the car."

Howdy chuckled when asked if any of his three siblings were also musically talented.

"No," he said. "They might think they are, but they're not. They're shower singers."

When he was a teenager, Howdy's family moved to Tarrytown, N.Y., where he graduated from high school. Beginning in his mid-teens, he sang and played guitar and trombone in a band called Six Pack, which covered brassy songs by Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

A one-year stint in college ended because, as he recalls, "I hated it." A subsequent audition as a solo singer-songwriter at a Big Apple club did not go well.

"I remember talking to the talent booker at the club the next morning, and he asked me 'Were you thinking of doing this as a hobby or as a career?'" Howdy said.

"I told him: 'As a career.' And he said, 'Well, I'd encourage you to think of it just as a hobby.'"

Undaunted, Howdy devoted himself to writing, performing and honing his own songs. In the mid-1970s, he relocated to San Diego, where his parents had retired, and later signed a publishing deal with United Artists Music.

The deal yielded, well, nothing. But Howdy (then performing as Steve Vaus) worked steadily in area nightspots, including The Boathouse, Boom Trenchard's and Botsford's. He also toured nationally as a solo act, opening gigs for everyone from ex-Lovin' Spoonful leader John Sebastian and Emmylou Harris to violinist Papa John Creach and blues greats Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.

A San Diego company, KJOS West, hired Vaus to record what turned out to be his debut album in 1981. Titled "Alphabet Soup," it exclusively featured — at KJOS' request — children's music. The company then had him make two similar albums, "Any Place Under the Sun" (1983) and "Anyplace U.S.A." (1984).

"The first album was intended to be a musical way to help kids learn the alphabet," he said. "After that, I proposed doing a bunch of songs about different places, whether it was a shoe factory or a post office, where kids might not know what went on. They liked the idea and let me have carte blanche, creatively."

Attempts to get an album deal to cut his own songs for an adult audience were met with failure at the time. But after being hired in the early 1980s by a music production company to do a commercial jingle for a water bed store, Howdy realized he could make a good living writing and recording TV and radio jingles for his own company. His clients have included Jerome's furniture, the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels flying team, the San Diego Padres and many more.

A casual conversation in 2002 led to the birth of Vaus' musical alter ego, Buck Howdy.

After lamenting that it was difficult to find a radio station that played songs suitable for kids, he decided to write and record tunes his young son and daughter could enjoy. What began as a homegrown project quickly grew and, in 2003, Nashville-based MCA Records released Howdy's debut album, "Skidaddle!" Then came 2005's "Giddyup!," his first album on his own Prairie Dog label. It was followed in 2007 by the Grammy-nominated "Chickens," the first of two albums credited to "Buck Howdy with BB."

As Steve Vaus, he now has his own albums to his credit. They feature songs with such titles as "We Must Take America Back" and "I Still Believe." They also feature pointedly social and political lyrics that seem a world apart from such Buck Howdy ditties as "Baa, Neigh, Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" and "Baked Beans" (sample lyric: Buffalo Bob's a strange old cuss when it comes to eatin' / Folks who knew him wondered how his innards took the beatin' / He ate one thing and only one for breakfast, dinner, supper / Didn't bother him at all, but, lordy, we all suffered ...).

"Buck Howdy is totally apolitical," he said. "Buck is all about enjoying life and nature. The music I do as Steve Vaus is more provocative and challenges people's thinking. With Buck Howdy, I just want to make people sing and smile."

Howdy did just that with when he accepted his Grammy Jan. 31 after winning the Best Spoken Word Album for Children trophy during the awards show's pre-telecast segment.

"I get a kick out of the fact that we spent less producing this record than I spent to valet park my car last night at the Grammy nominees party, which cost $40," said Howdy, who noted that he may well be this year's only Grammy winner who still performs at schools and birthday parties. "I am truly blessed and this is the icing on the cake."

To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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