A few days ago I posted a review of Laughing Tree Lullabies here. I wanted to know more about these artists and thought you might be interested as well. I am grateful that Jessica Lofbomm took the time to answer a few questions about Laughing Tree before she and Adam jetted off to Korea. I hope you enjoy learning about these artists as much as I did.

Amy: What is Laughing Tree? Where does the name Laughing Tree come from?

Jessica: Laughing Tree is a creative arts collective that my husband Adam and I founded. It’s the canopy for our own creative work and a vehicle for promoting other creative-types. Our family name, Lofbomm is an anglicized German name meaning laughing tree. We think Laughing Tree is a great name for our work because it suggests mirth, joy, connectedness, deep roots, reaching branches, growth, beauty, life, etc.

Amy: You certainly live an international life! Where are you and Adam based? What are you up to?

Jessica: We have been living in Seoul, South Korea for the past three years. Professionally, we work as voice actors, mostly in the English education market, and I do studio singing for kids’ CDs. Additionally, Adam makes visual art, and I record and play music with friends. We’re actually traveling right now. We were in Europe for a few months this summer to see some friends and promote our new record, Laughing Tree Lullabies, Vol. 1, and now we’re in the states doing the same and visiting family. I grew up in the Chicago area, and Adam is from Nashville. We’ll be back in Seoul at the beginning of December, by way of a few more weeks in Europe.

Amy: Tell me about your CD, Laughing Tree Lullabies.

Laughing Tree Lullabies, Vol. 1 is the first collection in a coming series of lullabies, folk songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. Each song is laid over recordings of repetitive sounds from every-day life (i.e. washing dishes, riding a bicycle, writing with pencil, etc.). The sounds flow from one song to the next, so the record is almost a continuous flow from start to finish. Musically, we wanted it to be something that our friends would enjoy listening to as well as their kids, so the result is a very nostalgic chill-out record for adults and a lulling and enlightening record for kids.

Amy: It is an album that I love. Congratulations. What do you mean about the record being enlightening for kids?

Jessica: I mean it in the broad sense that it introduces them to new things. Everyone knows how kids’ minds are like sponges, and they soak up information and impressions at a rapid rate. We wanted to use our lullaby record as a way to introduce many different languages (English, Spanish, German and Korean in this volume) and musical styles as well as a creative way of observing the world around– hearing the music in every-day life. This is all done with songs and poems that have stood the test of time and are well-loved around the world.

Amy: I saw something in the CD packaging about Sweet Sleep. Can you tell me about that?

Jessica: Sweet Sleep is a humanitarian organization based in Nashville that builds beds for some of the world’s poorest kids. Several years ago, the founder, Jen Gash took a church trip to Moldova, a tiny country between Romania and Ukraine. She was shocked by the way the kids in the orphanages were sleeping 2-3 per bed on sagging, soiled, 50-year-old mattresses and bed frames. Jen began raising money and soon brought a group of people back to build beds for all of the kids in an orphanage, and then another and another. That’s how Sweet Sleep was born. Sweet Sleep is now providing beds and cozy bedding for Moldovan orphans, Ugandan refugees and Haitian flood victims. We love the great work that Sweet Sleep continues to do, so we are donating 10% of all proceeds from Laughing Tree Lullabies to support the work of Sweet Sleep.

Amy: Where can we pick up a copy of Laughing Tree Lullabies, Vol. 1?

Jessica: Our record can be downloaded online through all of the big download sites (iTunes, Napster, Amazon…). Our record has beautiful packaging as well as great music, so it makes for a great gift. We are selling physical CDs online through CD Baby and Amazon. Laughing Tree Lullabies CDs are also available in some boutique locations in the states and Korea. You can find links to all of these on our site, LaughingTree.org/music.

Amy: Exciting! So, what is next for Laughing Tree?

Jessica: Adam and I are in the states until November 9, then we’re heading back for a couple of more weeks in Europe before we head back home to Seoul. In Europe, we’re going to Moldova for the first time. We’re going to see one of the orphanages where Sweet Sleep built beds a couple of years ago. We’re going to volunteer there for a week and meet Felicia, a little girl we have sponsored for a few years through Sweet Sleep’s parent organization, CERI.

Once we get back to Seoul in December, we’re really looking forward to a lot of creative collaboration. Adam is working on processing the photos he has taken while we’ve been traveling, and he’s planning to get his art up in several shows. I’m going to start gigging with some friends around Seoul. We’re also working to build Laughing Tree as a global creative arts label, so we’re going to start promoting other artists worldwide. I hope people will check in at LaughingTree.org and join our mailing list to share in the inspiration and conversations about living a creative life.

Amy: Fabulous! One last question, What is your Lullaby Link? How has a lullaby linked you to someone or someplace or event?

Jessica: I absolutely had to put Wynken, Blynken and Nod on our Laughing Tree Lullabies because that song has such a strong link to my childhood. My grandparents had the record, “The Magical World of Roger Whittaker,” and when my family would visit them, I would listen to that record over and over, lying on the carpet with my head between the speakers. I loved Roger Whittaker’s delicious voice (still do), and the dreamy visions in that song in particular really were magical. Wynken, Blynken and Nod brings me right back to Grandma and Grandpa Swanson’s living room floor with my eyes shut and my head swimming with visions of three little adventurers sailing the skies in their wooden shoe.

Amy: Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know a bit more about you both. We wish you every success with this album and will be eagerly awaiting the next.

To hear the music go to http:// www.LaughingTree.org/music

Adam and Jessica Lofbomm

To contact the Lofbomm’s and learn more about their work go here to LaughingTree.org or become a fan of Laughing Tree on Facebook!