News-Chronicle
When Randy Peterson was a teen-ager and aspiring guitar player growing up in Oconto Falls, his dreams perhaps weren't much different from those of other teens.
He wanted to be a famous rock singer, having thousands of adoring fans screaming and singing every lyric to his chart-topping tunes.
Little did he know that it would take him to the age of 35 to realize his dreams - sort of. As so often happens in life, Peterson found his calling at that time, but it differed dramatically from the dreams of his youth.
Oh, Peterson is well-recognized throughout the state, and fans often break into squeals of delight when he grabs his guitar and strums a familiar chord.
But the crowds he's pleasing these days are a little - OK, a lot - younger than he would've imagined. Peterson writes, sings and records children's songs, you see.
He performs about 200 gigs a year: at schools, libraries, fests, family events, anywhere the under-puberty set is likely to hang out.
Peterson's big break came through a series of circumstances in ways he couldn't have predicted.
After college he worked for 12 years as a graphic artist at the former Fort Howard paper mill, creating its old logo. In his spare time he played his guitar and sang, doing gigs mostly at lounges or places that attracted mostly older crowds.
He did cover songs, and it was fine, but he never had the kind of excited fan response he hoped for. Then one day, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary asked if he'd do a show for youngsters.
Peterson took a few minutes last week to talk to News-Chronicle news editor Patti Zarling about his work, his future, the challenges of keeping small children interested and his one big career regret.
News-Chronicle: How would you describe what you do and how long have you been performing?
Randy Peterson: I started out about 15 years ago, and at that time, I did standard children's classics. I have favorites that I still do - "Oh, Oh, Accident," which is a cover of a Tom Chapin (Harry Chapin's brother) song. But I do the song completely different than he does. I'm more of a performer.
Now I do more and more of my own material. I've made several recordings, and I'm recording a new album right now.
I'm recording it live. That's what we did with my last two albums; at the Wildlife Sanctuary. It really makes for a better album. There's something about the energy you get with kids compared to a studio.
I also write songs when I go into the schools. I'll talk to kids about writing and form, it starts like creative writing. At the end of the first hour, we'll have at least most of a song written.
It's amazing the ideas you come up with 40 minds all working. I can sit for two days and not come up with anything.
So my job is to weed out the ideas and keep them on track, so it tells a story and is cohesive.
How do you decide what material to use in shows or in recordings?
I try to find things kids can identify with. I have three kids, although they're getting older now. But especially earlier, a lot of my ideas would come from them.
My wife (Janet) has worked in child care and now for the Green Bay school system, so she gives me ideas.
What I try to do is write a song that would be interesting to a kid.
My most successful are ones that have learning. They're fun to sing, yet (children) take away something from it. And it can be as simple as family and doing things together.
One of my most popular songs. "Don't Squash That Bug," is about a girl who hates bugs and her brother who loves them, which was taken from my kids. Slowly she gets used the idea of bugs, and even though she still doesn't like them, she realizes right before she's going to swat a bug, that it's a honey bee and that they do good things. So she's accepting of them.
How did your desire to be singer begin, and how did your career evolve?
In high school I wanted to be famous musician, and I always loved the guitar. But I when I went to college, I got a degree in art and worked at Fort Howard. I always played my music, though.
I always went to concerts where people were so excited to be there and would go just to see that group. When I performed in a club, it just never happened; I was never able to achieve what I wanted to.
I played everything - from easy listening to country to polkas, but I never packed 'em in. I always felt my shows went OK, and that was it.
Then in 1986 I got the chance to play for kids at the Wildlife Sanctuary, and I loved it, and began to wonder if a guy could make a living at this.
What made it different?
The audience was great. They would do whatever I asked them to. If I asked them to sing, they sang. If I asked them to put their hands in the air, they put their hands in the air.
Everything I wanted to do with an audience, the kids were doing it.
I knew people in the business, so I had some idea of how to promote yourself. And my wife was in day care, so I could observe the kids.
And I did songs at Sunday school at church.
What are the challenges of working with kids?
You always have to keep them interested. Interested and entertained, so you have to have substance. As a performer, the challenge is to keep them busy.
An audience can get really noisy, and they'll be running around. I've learned how to pace the songs. The learning ones come first while they still have their attention span. As the show progresses, it gets busier and busier to keep them tuned in.
The challenges are the same as teachers. What kindergarten teachers do is much of what I do, but I don't have to do it every day all day long, and I don't have to come up with new material every day. I give them a lot of credit.
How did your career grow?
Occasionally I would get asked, "Can you come and sing for whatever, our church, our school." But it was a struggle at first. I think the real change came in 1989, when I made my first recording.
Then I became a professional and wasn't just like a dad who plays a guitar. My third (recording) won an award (National Parents' Choice Award).
I knew from the beginning I needed to record. After that first show, a mom came up and asked if I had any albums or tapes. I had never had anyone come up and ask that when I performed for adults.
What started happening after the recordings is that people would attend my shows and know all the words to every song and start singing along.
I was experiencing what I did when I went to concerts, what I wanted to do.
Then it was a matter of getting the ball rolling. In the early days, I did a few mailings around the state. I knew I wanted to do more of it, but I had to be sure I'd get enough work to support my family.
In 1995, or about 10 years after I started this, I quit Fort Howard and felt my career was solid.
Have you evolved over the years as a singer for children?
Yes, with my voice I would say I've become much more animated. In the beginning, if I sang "Oh, Oh, Accident," I went straight by the books. Now I'm not afraid to act silly or to talk in a silly voice.
I also act out the songs more. I have some of the music (pre-recorded) so I can free my hands to act out what people are doing in the songs.
Have you ever had a bad show?
They rarely happen now. Through experience I'm able to come back from a tough audience.
I'm not afraid to turn things down now if I think what I do just doesn't fit. In the beginning I'd take anything and say, "I'll make this fit." Now what I do is what I do.
Still, it occasionally happens. There recently was a show, where the lady who booked it had a kid, but when I got there about 95 percent of the audience was adults and the rest of the kids were teen-agers.
About 75 percent of the people didn't even have kids, so I seemed like hokey-pokey polka boy.
I do company parties all the time, and I don't know if she expected more kids to be there. That's probably the worst show I've had in the past five years.
What makes you good at what you do?
I think my voice has a friendly quality to it. I don't think I'm an intimidating guy. I'm not an in-your-face kind of guy. Especially when it's a new audience, I'll stand in one placeand play, and then I'll walk around a bit, and by the end of the show the kids are usually crowding around me.
I think I'm kind of in-tune with kids. My wife and I both are. We both believe fun is real important.
Have you noticed a change in kids over the years?
They're listening to popular music earlier, like Britney (Spears), which I don't agree with. A lot of kids will know every single word to songs on the radio, and I'm talking 3,4, 5 years old.
What is your goal with a show?
If I'm doing a family show, I want to give them a family show. My favorite thing is when I see parents and kids looking at each other; I see a lot of knowing looks between kids and grownups because they recognize something about someone they know in one of my songs.
I want to create a nice family event or experience. So I write songs about reading books or not watching TV. I put the accent on positive things, trying to convince them to use their imaginations more than watching TV.
How do develop your subjects? I just try to use common sense about what's appropriate. I don't do love songs, other than "love Mom and Dad" or "love all people." It has to be kid-friendly and kid-appropriate. I try not to have people treating each other mean.
I also try not to make my songs sappy. I try to make them something adults will enjoy listening to. I try to make them good for multiple listenings if they're trapped in a car on a long trip.
What are your plans for the future?
I want to do a video, and look for more ways of marketing. Sales of my recordings are a big part of my business, and I want to learn more about it and find a more widely-known distributor.
I don't want to be a national guy; I don't want to be gone all the time. But I'd like to sell more nationally and occasionally pop up on kids' cable (TV) and a video.
I have to think, 10 years from now, will I want to do this, will I be able to do this? I have to look for ways to make it work. I want to keep doing what I'm doing as long as possible, but the career also has to pay the bills.
My regret is I didn't find this 10 years sooner. I wish I could've had those 10 extra years to be working at this.
(Tongue-in-cheek) Do you have any groupies (or loyal fans?)
I have extremely loyal followers. There are people who have been to 50 shows easily. There are a handful who follow me all over the state.
That's very gratifying. What more could I hope for? These people are spending time together as they're driving. They're not shipping the kids off somewhere while they sit in front of the computer or whatever, because of what I do.
To have them put all that effort into it, makes me feel great. To go to a show and have them sing along every word makes me feel great.
What do you hope the kids come away with?
I try to meet the kids after the show to say "Hi." I try in some way to get every kid involved during the show. But if there's too many and I can't, I tell them to be sure to see me after and tell me what they were going to say when they raised their hand or what they wanted to do.
I try to give them each something to know they're important.
Randy Peterson
Age: 45
Occupation: Children's songwriter and singer
Community in which he lives: Green Bay
What makes him unique: He writes songs about icky bugs and cleaning your room
FYI: Peterson will be doing a live taping for his next recording at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary May 11-12. For information on purchasing tickets, call 469-9710. For more information about his shows or recordings, call the above number or visit the Internet at http://randypeterson.itgo.com
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