Tia McGraff Releases Joyful New Children’s Single “Caterpillar Song” to Celebrate the Launch of Her New Book ‘In Your Dreams, Jake’
Tia McGraff, the Simcoe, Ontario-based Canadian folk singer-songwriter, children’s author, and Norfolk Music Hall of Fame inductee, releases her delightful new children’s single “Caterpillar Song” today on Bandana Records, a warm and wonderfully singable kids’ pop anthem that celebrates perseverance, the joy of finding your way home, and the quiet magic of taking life one step at a time. Produced by McGraff’s husband and longtime musical partner Tommy Parham, with keyboards and mixing by Kevin Fisher in California, the song arrives as the perfect companion to McGraff’s new middle-grade children’s book ‘In Your Dreams, Jake,’ the second instalment in her beloved Jake the Road Dawg series, which launches this fall.
McGraff has described the song as the purest, most joyful songwriting gift of her career, one that arrived in the most organic way imaginable: driving home from an author event at Indigo with Tommy when the melody and lyrics simply came pouring out. “Caterpillars walk with tiny legs / Caterpillars can’t go very fast / Inching along they don’t give up / Sooner or later home at last.” She sang it into her phone and kept it on file for over two years until the timing aligned perfectly with the introduction of a caterpillar character into the new book, a character whose arc of growth and transformation mirrors the song’s own message with the kind of gentle, meaningful precision that has always defined McGraff’s best writing. The song’s bridge lands its universal lesson with grace and warmth: “Follow your heart, follow your nose / Follow your dream wherever it goes / Just remember when it’s time for bed / To follow your footprints back home again.”
McGraff is one of Canada’s most decorated and beloved roots artists, a singer-songwriter whose star first rose when she won the Canadian Open Country Singing Contest at the age of nineteen and who has since made television appearances with Johnny Cash and June Carter, written and recorded with Randy Bachman of BTO, and placed songs with Anne Murray’s publishing company. With over eleven international album releases, film and television placements, and a long list of accolades including Social Justice and Peace Songs of the Year at the 2021 and 2022 EmPower Songwriting Awards, a Hamilton Music Award, and a semi-finalist placement in the 2026 International Songwriting Competition, she and Tommy Parham have built one of the most respected and genuinely beloved careers in Canadian Americana folk music. No Depression has praised them as one of the best creative duos working today, and Bill Wence Promotions in Nashville has called McGraff one of the finest singer-songwriter-artists they have worked with in the past decade. In 2026, her hometown honoured her with induction into the Norfolk Music Hall of Fame alongside Rory Dodd and Canadian folk artist Ian Bell.
The Jake the Road Dawg series, inspired by the couple’s adopted Nashville shelter dog who travels with them on tour, has become a genuine community touchstone, raising funds and awareness for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, the Niagara Falls Humane Society, and numerous animal rescue organisations. The books have inspired the duo’s beloved live children’s show Songs’n’Tails, which brings music, storytelling, and the Jake the Road Dawg characters into libraries, bookstores, and community spaces across Ontario. Shari Cann, editor, education specialist, and trustee for the Grand Erie District School Board, has called ‘In Your Dreams, Jake’ a delightful read and an invaluable addition to the education system for children from grade three to eight.
Hi, Tia! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to readers who may not be familiar with your music?
Thank you for inviting me to share my story with your readers.
I grew up on the north shore of Lake Erie, ON, in a little fishing community called Port Dover. When I was nineteen, I won the Canadian Open Singing Contest, bought myself a guitar, taught myself 4 chords, wrote and recorded my very first song, Mister. The single began receiving airplay on Country Radio across Canada, leading to several TV appearances, including one with Johnny Cash and June Carter. After two album releases, writing and recording with notables Randy Bachman and Dan Hill, and publishing a few of my songs with Anne Murray’s publishing company, I decided to move to Nashville. Soon afterward, I met and married my husband, fellow songwriter Tommy Parham. We’ve toured the world together, performing at mainstage festivals, the Bluebird Cafe, and Songwriter’s rounds, and sharing our dream. We moved back to Ontario in 2007 to be closer to my family. My mom had just had a mini stroke, and I wanted to be here to help my family when Tommy and I weren’t on the road touring. In 2017, I released my first children’s book, Jake the Road Dawg. Inspired by the real-life journey of our Nashville shelter dog and his travels with us on the road, making friends and music.
You’ve written songs for adults for decades. Was writing “Caterpillar Song” harder because children can spot anything fake in about three seconds?
I’m a lyricist at heart, and a storyteller. Harlan Howard coined the phrase when describing the songwriting process, “Three chords and the truth.” In other words, a great song doesn’t have to be complicated, or even based on real characters and events. But it must be real and authentic. I’ve always tried writing from the heart. So, when this simple little melody and lyric found me, so to speak, I just let it fly. I didn’t sit down thinking, today I’m writing a kids’ song. It just came to me.
You said the song arrived while driving home from an Indigo event. Have your best songs usually shown up when you’re trying to write them, or when you’re busy doing something else?
That’s a great question. I choose to believe that the best songs find me. Whether I’m sitting down with a co-writer and we’re chatting about real-life events, or ideas. Or I draw from an emotion that I’ve been experiencing. One of the songs we’re recording for the upcoming album is called “Wounded Bear.” I woke up from a dream one night, picked up my Hook Book, and wrote the lyric. Caterpillar Song is another example of the song finding me.
The song is about perseverance, but caterpillars aren’t exactly rock stars. What is it about these tiny, slow creatures that makes them such powerful teachers?
Oh, but caterpillars are rock stars! They are the miracle of transformation unfolding in the most innocent of creatures. They go about their daily chores, inching along, eating leaves; meanwhile, their purpose is guiding them toward becoming something I bet they can’t even imagine. I just think that’s the greatest message to share with any child. You have the potential to be anything you choose to be. Find the song in your heart. Let yourself be crazy beautiful.
Many artists release a song and a book separately. What made you want “Caterpillar Song” and ‘In Your Dreams, Jake’ to work together as parts of the same story?
When I sat down to write my first MG book, Jake the Road Dawg, I wanted to inspire the gift of songwriting in young readers. The story is about the life of a shelter Husky and his travels with his newly adopted family, who happen to be touring singer-songwriters. The three songs in the book speak of creativity and self-confidence. I never dreamed it would lead to the beautiful journey that I found myself on. Visiting schools in the UK, USA, and Canada, teaching songwriting, and inspiring young creators. I even had the opportunity to read from the book and sing the songs virtually with students in my grandmother’s hometown of Batos, Transylvania. It was the most amazing experience ever! Writing and recording a complete album for kids of all ages, including the Caterpillar Song, and having it accompany the release of my new book, In Your Dreams, Jake, just seemed like the natural progression. We’re already seeing excitement from major bookstores, festivals, and schools that want to book us for more Songs’n’Tails events. I had the privilege of having great music teachers in school when I was in middle grade. Educators who encouraged me to sing and find my way onto the stage. A lot of schools don’t have the funding for music in the classroom these days. I’m hoping that by combining author readings, live original songs, and workshops, my events will find their way into classrooms across Canada. Songs’n’Tails Tour 2026-2027!
Have guitars and dogs. Ready to travel!