Todd McHatton is a musician, artist, author, poet, puppeteer, and comic creator. He brings humor and fun to pop music that the entire family can enjoy.
Todd McHatton’s music is alive with pure, classic, sunshine pop joy and storybook imagery. His music makes you feel happy, young, silly, and carefree. It’s the audio equivalent of a sack of candy and a stack of comic books.
Influenced by Harry Nilsson, The Beatles, Shel Silverstein, Dr Seuss, Jim Henson, and Walt Disney, Todd has successfully blended all the sweet magic of childhood with a quirky, sometimes edgy sound that gets everyone groovin’. Todd’s music has been described as The Beatles, Dr. Seuss, and Shel Silverstein on an old-fashioned sing-a-long road trip to Sesame Street. Rich vocal harmonies, jangly guitars and chiming pianos, Todd picks up where Harry Nilsson left off.
Todd loves the sunshine. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he learned to appreciate every sunny day. Even now, after spending his adult life in Southern California, he still looks forward to sunny days with his wife and children. With this sunny disposition, Todd surrounds himself with happy things: happy songs, a happy family, and happy endings.
Imagine bins overflowing with puppets in all stages of construction mixed with tons of odd musical instruments propped up against walls and an array of art projects scattered about and you’ll start to get a feel for Todd’s home studio. The kids’ rooms are just down the hall, which is why, if you listen closely, you may hear laughter and toys being played with on some of the tracks. He could have had these “artifacts” professionally removed with mixing and mastering but he opted for something more personal. A place of pure fun.
You’ll find Todd’s CD, Grass Stained Twilight, refreshingly homespun. It even comes wrapped in environmentally friendly packaging and includes a booklet of songs, poems, and a little cast of characters excerpted from his companion book, Grass Stained Twilight, available now from Amazon.
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Todd took a dare from his brother-in-law, Andy Baio of Waxy.org, when he suggested Todd start a website and put up a new, fresh song every week for a year. Since January 2008, Todd has done just that. Some of the songs from the website experiment were directly inspired by poems from Grass Stained Twilight and have found their way onto this first collection. One such track and website campfire sing-a-long favorite, “A Pudgy Pig and a Fuzzy Peach,” is featured in all of its jazz, pop, beach boy, blue grass glory. You’ll meet a guy named Phil who can set the table faster than anyone, a superhero who forgets his cape, some instructions on proper use of duct tape, Bill, the guy who brings all of the animal’s things they don’t need, and many more. Check out the world of Todd McHatton at mchatton.com.
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