Kes Gilhome Where the wild things are: Brave Combo gets the wee ones dancing.

Each year for the past three, Brave Combo has released an album that is, at least on first listen, so musically different from its predecessor that it seems it must have come from a different band.

In 1999, their Polkasonic release on Cleveland International Records torched most of the popular perceptions of polka music, proving it could gracefully walk a tightrope between rock and polka music. One year later, just as Polkasonic was picking up the Grammy Award for Best Polka Recording, Brave Combo released The Process on Rounder Records, its first pure pop music offering and arguably its most radio-friendly release to date.

This year, the 22-year fixture of the Denton music scene is meandering off in a totally different direction with All Wound Up: A Family Music Party. What distinguishes this album from previous efforts is that it sees the band collaborating with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, a Grammy-nominated duo specializing in music for the youth market.

"This was a unique project for us because we totally put the ball in their court," bandleader Carl Finch pointed out. "Even considering the other collaborations we've done, this was totally different. They were much more involved in coming up with the songs. Most of the stuff originated from them."

That includes the idea to record the album in the first place. The Maryland-based children's act approached Brave Combo after catching their 1997 performance at the Live Oak Music Festival in Santa Barbara, Calif. Watching the crowd of children and adults shake their booties and other assorted body parts to the high-energy music, Fink and Marxer began toying with the notion of a collaboration.

"We were caught up in the energy of the band," Marxer noted. "It was the infectious way that they played and their dedication to the music that really struck us. We live in totally different worlds, musically, but they do overlap. It turned out to be a wonderful pairing."

It also worked well with the duo's habit of always recording with live musicians rather than relying on canned or pre-recorded tracks. When the project finally materialized, Fink and Marxer flew to Denton for recording sessions, then took the completed reels back to Maryland for mixing.

"It's something they expressed an interest in, but it didn't materialize for a while," said Brave Combo bass player Bubba Hernandez. "By the time they came in to do the album, they already had quite a few things in mind, but what they were doing really worked well with what we do."

Like other Brave Combo recordings, the music is a potpourri of sounds and styles. Latin and African rhythms, polkas, waltzes, swing, and calypso music were all represented on the 12-song disc, which is on the Rounder Kids label. The lyrics might be somewhat different, but the kid sound fits well into the band's familiar musical frame.

"A lot of our music is something that kids like anyway," Hernandez says. "We've been told that all along. So we didn't have to change our style. The topics were different, but musically, all the way down the line, it's a rockin' record."

Marxer credits the "musical genius" of the band with such a well-received end product and says that each of them brought something valuable to the project.

"For us, it really was a musical fantasy experience," Marxer maintained. "There are very few bands I wish I could play with, but this is one of them. Being around [sax/clarinet player] Jeffrey [Barnes] and watching him create was just a miraculous experience. Bubba had incredible insight into the songs. It was great fun to play with them."

If the music is standard Brave Combo fare, the topics aren't. All Wound Up includes a new original twist number, "Spaghetti (Twist and Twirl)"; a new arrangement of the old standby "Chopsticks"; an amped-up polka version of the well-worn "Mockingbird" song; and the highly entertaining "I Will Never Clean Up My Room." With the exception of the last tune, which could as easily apply to a frat as it does to a brat, the themes are definitely kid-friendly.

"The thing is, that other than having the ambassadors of children's music there in the studio with us, this album really isn't that different than anything else we do," Hernandez said. "We didn't hold back on the musicianship. Cathy is a wicked banjo player, and Marcy was playing the hammered dulcimer and the congas, so we had some extra elements that added to the sound. It's a kids' album, but the arrangements damn sure don't sound like anything I heard in first grade."

Creating a children's album that is palatable for adults wasn't much of a stretch for the band; Finch has worked with Trout Fishing in America, producing their award-winning 1994 children's album, Mine!, among other efforts. Finch said that -- like cookies an milk -- children and Brave Combo have always been a good mix.

"It's not uncommon for us to play kid-friendly environments like festivals or the Czech Club, and we always get a great response from children," he said. "We've started doing early shows when we play Antone's in Austin, and a lot of people who stopped coming to our shows because they had kids are coming out and bringing their kids with them. It's great to see them all get out there and dance, although it's also kind of funky to see these little kids running around in a bar."

Combo will try the same approach when they play the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth on March 30; an early show at 8:30 will be more family-oriented, then the second show, at 11 p.m., will see the band pull out all the stops for one of its polka-flavored rock shows.

"We still play the same way, regardless of whether it's a kids' song or not," Finch said. "We always play it through the Brave Combo aesthetic. There's a lot of variety in the structure of our music, and that allows us to do some things with it that other bands might not be able to get away with."

Whatever it is they're getting away with, it's working. All Wound Up is selling well, keeping the label happy, and introducing Brave Combo to an audience that might not have heard of them before. This time, for a change, it's the children who are turning their parents on to a whole new sound.

"We knew that our audience would flip over them," Marxer said, "and they have. I was at the Grammy Awards and people are talking about this album. I'm not making any big predictions here, but there are people in the industry who are very impressed with the way this turned out."

That doesn't mean the boys in the band are ready to trade in their club gigs and hit the Romper Room circuit. Already wrapping up their next project, they're focusing their affections on their passion for polka and will release a live album by the end of summer.

"Even though we've been doing a lot, it's been a long time since we were in the studio doing our own thing our way," Finch said. "So even though it feels like we've done a lot, we haven't done something that's typical Brave Combo for a while. It always adds something to work with other people, and it keeps it fresh.

"But it's always good to get back to doing what you know best."