NORTHSIDE CHILDREN NOW have another opportunity to sing along with one of the area’s favorite musicians.

David Womack, who is better known as “Mr. Dafe” by the pre-schoolers who know his songs best, has released a new CD entitled Hold Your Nose When You Swallow a Goat.

The CD is the most recent solo project by the Belhaven performer and features seven traditional children’s songs, three songs by children’s recording artist Helen Moffat and four originals by Mr. Dafe himself. Womack said he is pleased with his most recent work.

“We’ve met in a good place,” he said. “It’s got some tongue-in-cheek humor for adults but it’s as silly as it can be.” Songs on the CD include standards in the day care circles like “The Wheels on the Bus,” but with a Jamaican twist.

Mr. Dafe also takes a different perspective on an old nursery rhyme, with a song that explains how Humpty Dumpty sacrificed himself so everyone could have a big breakfast.

The CD is on sale now at www.dafesongs.com. One Northside day care director has said she’s going to buy a copy for her grandson and for the day care at Galloway United Methodist Church.

Sharon Briggs, the day care director, said the children there already benefit from the real thing. Mr. Dafe performs in classes there twice a week. “He’s been doing it for 10 years,” she said. “He’s absolutely wonderful. His son was at the day care when our music person left and I begged him to do it.”

Briggs said Mr. Dafe brings a new energy to the classroom that CDs don’t provide. And, he sings and plays his guitar with the same enthusiasm for infants that he does for older preschoolers. One of his most popular songs is “Fire truck,” she said, which teaches children about what the trucks do.

WHEN MR. DAFE isn’t performing in the classrooms, he’s David Womack, a cocktail and wedding/event singer. His current professional career, though, is a far cry from the star-studded career he had hoped for when he left for Nashville’s country music scene in the 1970s.

Womack attended the University of Mississippi and later graduated from Millsaps with a degree in English. While he was driving a van for Methodist Rehabilitation Center, he had an epiphany.

“I realized that if I didn’t do something now, I would never use my degree,” he said. So, with a college education and a little bit of playing-in-a-band experience under his belt, he left for Nashville. While there, he had an impressive career.

Womack admits that he didn’t find success in the traditional sense. “I’ve been really successful, if you don’t count the money,” he said, joking. “I’d like to try success with the money.” Womack erupted into laughter.

Despite not making it rich, Womack had an award-winning career that spanned 11 years.

He wrote several songs recorded by the industry’s biggest stars. According to his Web site, he co-wrote “Blue Highway,” one of John Conlee’s biggest hits, and he composed other songs that were recorded by country music superstars Loretta Lynn and Lou Reid.

Womack, though, left the Nashville scene because he wanted a chance to expand his artistic horizons.

“Nashville has the most talented country and gospel musicians in the world,” he said. “But there are very little other types of music.”

He returned home in 1988 and began work on several other projects. Since then, he’s worked on one children’s CD with Helen Moffat called Holidays and Other Fun Stuff. And, he’s co-written two musicals, including The Guru of Kudzu, about growing up in the state.

The toughest job for the Belhaven resident, who claims to have a great scenic view of Belhaven College’s maintenance building, is performing for children.

“You cannot relax; if you’re tired, they know it,” he said. “You have to have energy, act silly and sometimes, you have to be the teacher.”

WOMACK ISN’T JUST a music teacher, he’s also a male role model for the students.

Briggs said Womack’s being there encourages students and helps them develop life skills. Leading the classes in song gives the children a creative outlet to express themselves and helps them to better improve their language skills, she said.

And, she has a feeling that other parents and grandparents feel the same way. “He brings so much joy to the children,” she said. “He’s making such a huge impact.”

Hold Your Nose When You Swallow a Goat is available at The Toy Place, Fondren Guitars, Rosefire Antiques, Interior Market, Lemuria and Be-Bop.