"Dan Zanes has quietly become the best new thing to happen to family music in the nearly four decades since Woody Guthrie's death."
- Houston Chronicle

"His albums are hip enough for Debbie Harry and Lou Reed to make cameos but accessible enough for the under-ten set to sing along...this is good 'ol fashioned pop music for all ages."
- Esquire

"The band's frequent live shows create the happiest concert vibe since Woodstock. With a lot less drugs and mud."
- New York Magazine

"It was one of those rare children's concerts where the grownups clearly had as much fun as their toddlers."
- The Boston Herald

"Zanes creates music that is full of loose-limbed conviviality and homespun charm."
- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Zanes has released...rootsy, whimsical albums brimming with warmth and musical integrity."
- Boston Globe

"What makes Dan Zanes and Friends such a treasure is that they exist outside the corporate structure. There's no attempt to cross-promote or create a consumer. All that matters is having fun."
- VARIETY

"Dan Zanes is enriching the field with his dance-party, hootenanny for the 21st century-style live performances...combining uncompromising vocal and instrumental artistry and a muscular pop beat with an all-embracing, down-style that harks back to the days when sing-alongs in the parlor brought families and friends together."
-Los Angeles Times

"Zanes' performance is refreshing in its uncommercialized sweetness...homey and handmade, the hour-long show has only one agenda: entertaining children."
-Variety

"The former lead singer of the Del Fuegos has charged to the rescue of beleaguered parents everywhere with his two recordings of classic children's songs and inventive originals. Making music that entertains children without sounding too corny or precious is no easy chore. Thank goodness someone is taking on the task."
-The Washington Post

"The kids music that Dan Zanes is making...works because it's not kids music; it's just music --music that's unsanitized, unpasteurized, that's organic even."
-New York Times Magazine

"A leading light in the recent movement of underground rockers making cool children's music."
-Chicago Sun Times

"His concerts are as much dance party as sing-along..."
-The Los Angeles Times

"...[This] rock veteran reinvents children's music, and parents everywhere are thankful."
-Nashville Scene

"Dan Zanes filled a void. Wholesome, yet undeniably cool..."
-The Brooklyn Journal

"Dan Zanes' Parades and Panoramas is a delightful rendering of 25 traditional folk songs from Carl Sandburg's 1927 The Amercian Songbag."
- Vanity Fair

"House Party (Festival Five 2003) is a merry essay on the joys of social music...designed to feel like it's roaming from room to room in a big, musical house party. The sound is frisky and acoustic."
- Sing Out!

"Zanes brings extraordinary warmth to his multicultural folk and original songs; at the same time, his informal style is never at the expense of deft musicianship."
- Parents' Choice Foundation, Summer 2004
House Party was a 2004 Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner

"Dan Zanes and Friends' third release, Night Time, is an inviting, all-ages, American-roots album, custom made for sing-alongs and smiles."
-The New York Times

"Lucky parents and lucky kids: former Del Fuegos lead singer Dan Zanes has made family music heartfelt calling...unpretentious, unsynthesized, jammin'-in-the-kitchen sound, a deliberately crafted sound that he labels "handmade."
- Parents' Choice Gold Award, Spring 2003

"Zanes is on to something with his non-patronizing, well-intended family tunes...it wouldn't be out of [lace to call this Adult Alternative music for kids."
- ALLMUSIC GUIDE, October 2002

"Feel-good, toe-tapping fun awaits on this (new) American folk album...Dan Zanes manages to reach out to children without being condescending to them in upbeat songs."
-Nashville Parent, November 2002

"True children's music, but executed with such sweet (and un-gooey!) humor, casual multiculturalism and shambling groove that you can call it your own."
-The New York Times

#2 Ben Ratliff's Best of the Obscure
-2001 List

"Dan Zanes follows last year's remarkable Rocket Ship Beach (picked as top ten for 2001) with Family Dance...you can't help but tap your feet to this delightful cd..."
-Metrokids Pennsylvania

"For parents who want to introduce their children to world music as well as American roots music, Zanes can't be beat. As the title of this album implies, this is one unstuffy, informal affair, and one where children of all ages should feel welcome."
-The Sunday Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)

"Wry, rootsy, real american folk music - songs that twist a little plangency into the sweetness of a melody, songs that feel like life."
-Rolling Stone Magazine/ The Hot Issue

"A...extremely sunny batch of traditional and original songs..."
-Entertainment Weekly

"Finally, a cd for kids that won't make their parents squirm...a lovely, lively, nostalgia trip."
-The New York Post

"Editor's pick...of primary appeal are Zanes' knowledge of American roots music and his instinct for songs that resonate with kids..."
-"2000's ten hottest discs for kids"

"A rootsy winsome collection of classic folk songs..."
-Billboard Magazine

"Top pick...the music is cozy and refreshing"
-U.S. News and World Report

"Zanes outbops Barney...his harmonies with banjo player Donald Saaf on Over the Rainbow are sweetly stunning"
-People Magazine

"It's folky, hip, a bit rocking, and altogether a hoot..."
-Amazon.com- Editor's Review

"On the short list of kid's albums that won't make adults cringe..."
-The Boston Phoenix

"In an era when too much "product" for kids is calculated and concentrated on how much of a market youngsters make up, Zanes has given us something unaffected and convincingly genuine."
-Ithaca [NY] Child