YouTube Originals for Kids and Family Premieres “Jam Van” with Debut of First Two Episodes Featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda and Brandi Carlile [VIDEO]

Today, YouTube Originals premieres the first two episodes of “Jam Van,” a road-tripping, original music series for preschool kids and families. The show, which consists of eight 11-minute episodes, debuts with two new episodes featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda and Brandi Carlile. This free-to-stream series launches today, January 19 @ 9AM PT / 12PM ET, with new episodes rolling out weekly on Thursdays on the YouTube Originals for Kids & Family channel and the YouTube Kids app.

From the Oscar®, Emmy®, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning team of Believe Entertainment Group (”Dear Basketball“), composer/producer Bill Sherman (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights,” “Sesame Street“), and animation studio Global Mechanic, “Jam Van” is a blend of animation and live-action with each episode following animated music-loving best friends Lamb (voiced by Pete Lee) and Anne the Alligator (voiced by Nicole Byer) who travel to new locations around the country, where they meet up with famous live-action musical artist friends who help them tackle a relatable social-emotional learning challenge with the assistance of a new original song they sing together. The series also features the voice of Marc Maron as Grumpy GPS.

In the first episode, “Anne & Lamb Search for a Gator with Lin-Manuel Miranda,” the Jam Van crew hits Manhattan where Lamb helps Anne search for her mysterious Uncle Salligator who’s been hiding in the city sewers. Along the way, they bump into special guest star musical maestro Lin-Manuel Miranda who performs the original song “The Long Lost Gator of New York City,” to help them in their search!

In the second episode, “Anne & Lamb Find A Family with Brandi Carlile,” Anne and Lamb are visiting Seattle, Washington but Anne’s feeling homesick and missing her family. When she finds a group of friends, including special guest star singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile who performs the original song “One Sacred Thing,” Anne learns that you can find love and acceptance from “found” families – people who can love you even if you’re not related to them.

Each episode includes a special musical artist and the location they are featured in:

101 – “Anne & Lamb Search for a Gator with Lin-Manuel Miranda” (New York)
102 – “Anne & Lamb Find A Family with Brandi Carlile” (Seattle)
103 – “Anne & Lamb Get Lost in Oakland with Daveed Diggs” (Oakland)
104 – “Anne & Lamb Rock with Old Crow Medicine Show” (Greater Virginia)
105 – “Anne & Lamb Say Cheesesteak with Boyz II Men” (Philadelphia)
106 – “Anne & Lamb Chase An Armadillo with Sheryl Crow” (Nashville)
107 – “Anne & Lamb Make a Movie with Fitz and The Tantrums” (Los Angeles)
108 – “Anne & Lamb Lead A Parade with Trombone Shorty” (New Orleans)

“Jam Van” is produced by Believe Entertainment Group, Bill Sherman’s Pop Music Misery, Inc., and animation studio Global Mechanic. Craig Hunter is Global Head of Kids & Family Originals for YouTube with Zoë Di Stefano and Daniel Haack serving as creative leads on the series.

About YouTube Originals Kids & Family:

YouTube Originals has a growing roster of shows focused on kids and family, including the award-winning series “Lockdown,” “Super Sema,” “Onyx Family Dinner,” “Tab Time,” “Fruit Ninja Frenzy Force, “Kid Correspondent,” “The Workout Badges” and recent hits such as “The Eggventurers,” “Behind the Beats,” “Buster’s Big Halloween,” “The Big Tiny Food Face-Off“, “The Guava Juice Show,” “Corpse Talk,” “Millie & Lou,” “Coyote Peterson’s Wild Field Trip,” “Buster Saves Christmas,” “Supa Strikas: Rookie Season,” “BookTube Jr.,” “Get Curious with Vice President Harris,” “Growing with Lottie Dottie,” “Break the Record,” Pinkfong Wonderstar,” “Sherwood,” “We Are Savvy,” “Hyperlinked,” “Kings of Atlantis” and “DanTDM Creates A Big Scene.” Shows on the YouTube Originals for Kids & Family channel can be found here.

About Bill Sherman:

Multi-award-winning composer, producer, arranger, music supervisor, and orchestrator Bill Sherman is the creator, executive producer, and music director of “Jam Van.” Sherman’s credits include being the music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator on the Award-winning original musical “& Juliet,” now on Broadway; the co-composer on Tony Award-winning producer Jeffrey Seller’s directorial debut “Fly,” executive music producer for “In the Heights,” directed by Jon Chu, and “Tick, Tick… Boom!,” directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Sherman’s credits also include music director and co-composer on “The Electric Company,” “Sesame Street,” “Nature Cat” and “Donkey Hodie.” He is also the co-host of “Questlove Supreme” with Ahmir Thompson.

About Believe Entertainment Group:

Believe Entertainment Group is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-Winning New York-based studio renowned for both animated properties and live-action documentaries. The studio is best known for its acclaimed animated short film, “Dear Basketball,” written by Kobe Bryant, scored by the prolific John Williams, and directed by Disney legend, Glen Keane. Their documentary feature, “Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids” featuring Neil Patrick Harris premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The studio’s new documentary series, “American Anthems,” spotlighting our country’s most inspiring people, produced in partnership with NBCU Syndication Studios and executive produced by country legend Jennifer Nettles. The studio’s additional credits include “The LeBrons,” a multi-season animated kids series with NBA champion, LeBron James; and “Between Me and My Mind,” a feature-length doc about Trey Anastasio (Phish). Believe’s current projects in production include two limited documentary series and “Crowded Hours,” a scripted historical fiction podcast starring Emma Roberts, Tony Goldwyn and Maggie Siff. Believe is represented by CAA. Trilith Studios (Atlanta) and UK-based ITV are the studio’s two largest shareholders and board members.

About Global Mechanic:

Since 2000, Global Mechanic has produced thousands of hours of animation for children’s series, films, commercials, digital media, and art projects. Global Mechanic has also worked in partnership with Nickelodeon, Netflix, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and PBS, including Emmy award-winning series Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman and the innovative Kidscreen-award-winning interactive series, Scribbles & Ink. A nimble boutique studio, Global Mechanic is constantly evolving, informed by the deep expertise and confidence of many years of experience. Principals Bruce Alcock, Tina Ouellette, and their team of creative directors & animators bring their personal attention and decades of wide-ranging experience in content creation and design to every project.