#GirlDads and daughters get center stage in Pierce Freelon's first album for kids, D.a.D

Since he became a father 11 years ago, Pierce Freelon has been collecting the stories of his growing family — from the earliest days in the hospital to birthday parties and school recitals for his two kids.

"I think a lot of that is just being a millennial," said Freelon, a Durham native and Emmy-award winning producer, director and professor who teaches at UNC-Chapel Hill. "We're the first generation of parents that has had a smartphone for the entire life of our kids."

But Freelon is an accomplished musician too. So that digital reel of family moments also captures song ideas and hooks that eventually inspired Freelon's first family album, "D.a.D," a collection of songs and snippets that showcase the ups and downs of fatherhood, highlighting, in particular, the relationship between dads and their daughters.

The album came out July 31 and is streaming on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and elsewhere. Freelon's website has more information.

Freelon said he hopes the album represents the experiences of all parents, but gives a voice, especially, to Black parents and Black fathers, who often aren't featured in children's music.

"Parenting is an interesting and difficult, complicated and challenging ... I don't know how many words can you use to describe the nuances of parenting," Freelon said. "And when I listen to the genre of children's music, I don't hear as much from parents, especially Black parents and Black dads."

'Reaching into the vault'

The genesis for D.a.D began in 2008 with the birth of his son, but it really took off last year as Freelon replayed the recordings for his father, famed architect Phil Freelon, who had been diagnosed with ALS. Phil Freelon, who died in July 2019, led the design team for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., among many other projects. Pierce Freelon's mother is six-time Grammy nominated jazz singer Nnenna Freelon.

"When my dad got sick with ALS, I found myself reaching back into that vault to share gems with him," Pierce Freelon said of his family recordings. "I would spend hours a day with him when the ALS had advanced, and he was paralyzed. My siblings and I and my mom would take turns caring for him. My phone came with me, and we would just scroll through the years, reminiscing."

It was during that process that Freelon realized he might have something worth sharing with a bigger audience. And when his father died, pouring into the possibilities became part of his grieving process.

"I didn't realize it at the time, but in that process, what I was doing was celebrating him because all the little funny, quirky aspects of fathering that I revealed through the music and D.a.D were things that I learned from him," he said. "That became a really sacred healing space for me, as a grieving son, to pour the joy of fathering and parenting into a creative project that reminded me of him and that showed me that, even though his body is gone, his energy is still very present through me in the way that I parent and inherited this legacy of fathering and being a great dad."

Daddy-daughter focus

D.a.D features 15 tracks that mix songs with voice memos, and he brings in other Durham-based artists, including Rissi Palmer and J Gunn, for collaborations.

Freelon's daughter Stella opens the album with her pleading "I don't want to go to bed," in "Tuck Me In," which offers up an electronic jazz and Afro-Caribbean vibe.

Next comes "Daddy Daughter Day" with J Gunn, a hip-hop anthem that features some Durham family favorites. Freelon released a video for the song in June, and it's pretty adorable.

With Palmer, who released her own children's album a few years ago, Freelon wrote and recorded "My Body," a soul-filled song that addresses consent and body autonomy. A video for "My Body" launched last week.

The idea for an album that featured fathers and daughters, particularly in Black families, came together in the winter as the nation mourned Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi and celebrated their close relationship. Soon after, "Hair Love," an animated short that tells the story of a Black father doing his daughter's hair, won an Oscar.

"We're in a moment, right now, in American history where we're having a lot of hard conversations about institutional racism and white supremacy and anti-Blackness," Freelon said. "A lot of the narratives and media around Black men and Black fathers are harmful. It's like deadbeat dads and single parent moms doing all the child-rearing. ... There's this notion that dads can't or shouldn't be nurturers or primary caregivers. That that's a women's place. I think some of those mores are even more entrenched around Black fatherhood because of the intersection of racism and sexism. And so, for me, it was really important for my album to present fathers and Black fathers, specifically and intentionally, as nurturers and caregivers, as silly, goofy, stern-when-we-need-to-be dads. Just a reflection of our full humanity."

More to come

Exactly what's next for Freelon isn't clear, but he's certain there will be another children's album. He has 400 voice notes on his phone and another 20 or 30 sketches and ideas for other songs.

"I will definitely be doing another album," Freelon said. "It was really hard to pick these 11 songs and four voice memos. I could have easily done a double album, but I wanted to put something out there. ... But I have a lot of songs about a bunch of other topics and even more ideas in various stages of development that I think need to be shared."

One of the final tracks on the album is a nearly two minute voice memo featuring Freelon's father who imparts wisdom to his grandchildren on cultivating the talents and gifts that they have. It's a touching moment, recorded just a week before he passed away.

"I don't think my dad knew at the time that I'd be including it on my children's album, but part of the intention of putting it in the track list is to share that gift and that love and wisdom with other families and children and artists," he said. "And that is a gift. It's as generous as any gem that I could offer. This was something important that he taught me, and now this information is available to everyone who wants to listen."