By Janine DeFao
It would be easy to assume that Lisa Loeb’s foray into children’s music happened after she had children herself.
But the first children’s album from the chart-topping ’90s pop singer-songwriter predated her daughter’s birth by six years. The inspiration for 2003’s “Catch the Moon” was not her kids’ childhood, but her own.
“I just loved growing up, my childhood, and I think I’ve always had a nostalgic connection with my childhood and a lot of the music and entertainment I enjoyed as a kid,” says Loeb, 57, who grew in Dallas and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, TV producer Roey Hershkovitz, and children, Lyla, 15, and Emet, 13.
From TV shows like “The Carol Burnett Show” and the early days of “Sesame Street” to albums like Marlo Thomas’ “Free to Be You and Me” and Carole King’s “Really Rosie,” that ’70s entertainment appealed to both kids and adults with “a high level of humor and storytelling,” Loeb says. “I wanted to do things like that. … It was about nostalgia and joy and living inside that world and creating inside that world.”
Her Newest Album
Loeb’s most recent album is another nod to nostalgia. “That’s What It’s All About” is a collaboration with the L.A.-based children’s folk music group The Hollow Trees, with whom Loeb will play at Bay Area Parent’s second annual Kids Day in the Park on Sept. 20 in San Jose.
The album includes some originals, plus reimagined standards like “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake” and “A Doodlin’ Song.”
“It’s a love letter to our parents and grandparents who raised us with music,” says Loeb. “These are the songs my dad played on the piano when I was growing up.”
Music was always a part of Loeb’s life, she says, and she started playing piano and writing songs at a young age. And then, one year at summer camp, a friend brought along a guitar. Loeb began to learn to play and was hooked.
“We would do skits, … we would play camp songs. Music was just very central. It was a way to connect with other people as a community, it was a way to express myself, and it was a way to have a lot of fun,” she recalls. Camp was “a place where you could be independent, learn about yourself and have so much fun. You might learn more at camp than you do at school, you know, trying new things and meeting new people in a safe environment.”
From Camp to College
Loeb continued to play music into college, where she had a popular band at Brown University, and then was part of a duo before striking out solo. Her breakout hit, “Stay (I Missed You” from the movie “Reality Bites,” topped the Billboard charts in 1994 and was followed by two more hits.
After releasing “Catch the Moon” in the early 2000s with collaborator Elizabeth Mitchell, Loeb continued to make music for both kids and adults. Her follow-up children’s album, “Camp Lisa,” was inspired by her camp days and proceeds support her foundation, which helps pay to send kids to camp.
In 2009, Loeb had her first child, when she was 41. She says she was at least 10 years older than some of her mom friends having kids, but also had many friends her own age with older kids from whom she could learn. Another benefit was having had lots of her own life experiences and an established career.
The only drawback, she says, of being a quote-unquote “older mom” is “the sad math of it. … It’s possible I won’t live as long as some of the other parents and I won’t get to know my kids when they’re older. But I’m not sure you know what will happen then.”
The Lessons of Her Children
Having kids also helped Loeb focus on her children’s music in a new way.
“I was definitely interested in the values of the songs. I did a whole album called “Feel What U Feel,” which was probably the most like “Free to Be You and Me,” where we really were thinking about what lessons we would like to pass along and what messages we think are important to hear, … you know, what messages did I wish I had heard growing up,” Loeb says. Those messages resonated with both listeners and critics, and that 2016 release won the Grammy for Best Children’s Album.
In addition, “as a working mom, you know you really focus on where you’re putting your energy,” she says.
For Loeb, that means balancing giving her kids what she considers a “traditional” childhood, along with the demands of recording and touring, something she loves to do to connect with audiences. Whether she’s performing for kids or adults, much of Loeb’s music has crossover appeal and audiences are bound to sing along, especially to “Stay,” which she always includes in her set by popular demand.
“I’m glad we have something like a music festival … to bring us together because there’s so much going on in the world that’s really difficult,” Loeb says. “And showing people’s true heart, and that they can actually connect with each other and be in a place together and in community is really powerful.”
If You Go:
Bay Area Parent’s second annual Kids Day in the Park will take place on Sept. 20 at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, 1 Paseo San Antonio in San Jose. Doors open at 11. Bring your own blanket (no chairs allowed). In addition to the concert, there will be dozens of vendors, face painting, bounce houses and exhibits, as well as food trucks and beer, wine, water and other beverages available for purchase. For more information and tickets ($10 presale, $15 advance, $20 at the door, plus fees), visit caltix.com/e/kids-day-in-the-park-san-jose-2025/tickets.
