We do not usually think of a sweetly sleeping child when we think of New York. There is no such thing as blissful quietude here. Instead, we think of honking car horns, whooshing street sweepers, clattering subway cars, blaring sirens, and the bright lights of Broadway. None of this seems to be conducive to the sweet dreams of a young child. Yet, every night, a million children in NYC are tucked in, hear lullabies, and are read bedtime stories. And a million tired adults kiss foreheads, say good night, and turn off the lights in the city that never sleeps.

Having lived here most of my life, I can attest that Gotham is never silent, especially when sanitation trucks rumble by on the street below. Though never quiet, there is a spectrum of noise that offers peace to those of us who call the Big Apple home. Peace comes in the sound of continuously splashing taxi tires on rainy nights; a block party on a summer evening; or the loud, repeated beeping of a kneeling bus dropping off a parent after a long day of work. 

Lullabies have their spectrum, too, don’t they? I remember my mom rocking me gently as she sang Sleep, Little Baby just as often as she rocked me vigorously, accompanied by her loud soprano warbling He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand as I cried inconsolably. When my children were small, I would quietly sing Brahms’ lovely, familiar Lullaby just as often as I would sing, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand in my own loud, warbling soprano voice. Perhaps these two lullabies are part of the soundtrack of your life’s late nights, too, and you will enjoy hearing them again. 

Mary Wannamaker Huff

Release Schedule:
EP release: Friday, October 31, 2026
Album release: Friday, November 13, 2026
LAUNCH CONCERT: Wednesday, November 11, 2026, 7:30 PM
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center, New York, NY