For Your Consideration

BEst Children's Music Album 2026

Creature Teachers is the long-awaited third full-length album from beloved Tulsa-based family music artist Hot Toast Music Company

Written in the Oklahoma landscape of open horizons and resilient communities, this album invites listeners to rediscover wonder in everyday life. The entire album was recorded at Symon’s house (aka Hot Toast HQ) in Tulsa, OK, with Hot Toast producer extraordinaire Kenny Davis out of Nashville.

The album was originally supposed to be released in the summer of 2025. Instead, just as I was preparing to share it with the world, I received a devastating diagnosis of stage III colorectal cancer.
What followed was a year of surgeries, chemotherapy, hospital stays, setbacks, and a long road back. The album was quietly placed on a shelf while my family and I focused on something much more important: fighting for my life.

In an unexpected turn, though, the themes of Creature Teachers only became more meaningful during that season.
Spending so much time thinking about resilience, adaptation, community, and the wisdom found in nature helped carry me through one of the hardest years of my life. Now, more than a year later, I'm incredibly grateful to finally be able to share this project.

Whether you're four years old and completely obsessed with dinosaurs, or an adult who still gets excited when a new nature documentary comes out, these songs are for you. I hope these songs spark curiosity, and I hope they make you laugh, sing, and ask questions. I hope they help you notice the magic unfolding every day right outside your door.
Most of all, I hope they remind you that we aren't so separate from nature. We're part of it. Our animal neighbors have been teaching us all along. We just have to slow down enough to listen.

Liner notes & lyrics here