Mr. Roberts is
Justin time for kids

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column includes an interview with the new kids musical sensation Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players, which have been featured on NBC’s Today Show, among many others.
Justin Roberts was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1969. He thought my first question — who was the greatest influence on him as a child? — was unique as well as difficult to answer.
"Of course, my parents were a great influence on my life." he said, adding that many of his teachers had a great effect, too.
"Especially, my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Roberson. She was the one who really inspired me, because she had us doing a lot of creative writing in school," he said, adding that the teacher had the kids spend a lot of time writing poems.
"This was a great influence on me becoming a songwriter," he said.
After high school, Justin earned a bachelor’s degree in religion at Kenyon College in Ohio and a master’s degree in religion at the University of Chicago.
Justin joined Pimentos for Gus, an indie-rock band, in his freshman year in college. He started the band with one of his hallmates at college. They heard each other playing guitar in their own dorm rooms.
I had to ask what indie rock is because I had never heard of this term before. He explained that indie rock refers to rock artists that are unsigned, or had to sign with an independent record label, rather than major record labels.
Teaching changed his life. In 1992 Justin began working as a Montessori preschool teacher.
"I just fell in love with how amazingly smart kids are and how many things they absorb," he said. "When I first started working with kids that age, I had preconceived notions about what kind of music they would like. I thought they would want really simple nursery rhyme songs, a lot of repetition. I found they were capable of listening to a long story like songs as well as learning all of the words, or enjoying a song by Sam Cooke or even an Irish gig. It was kind of surprising and it got me into writing songs for kids."
That Christmas, Justin sent copies of his new kids’ songs to his close friends as holiday gifts.
One of the gift recipients was Liam Davis, a college pal and music producer, who suggested they record the songs professionally.
He released his first album, Great Big Sun, in 1998. He had written many of the songs for the preschoolers in the early ’90s.
"I had no kids, none of my friends had kids, but we were just writing songs from a child’s perspective," he said. "I had a knack for it and I really enjoyed it." Sesame Street’s Parents magazine named it the best CD of the year.
"I was pretty floored by it," Justin recalled. "We made the record and figured we would just give a few copies to friends. At the time I was going off to graduate school. I was not considering a career in children’s music. We found the record was getting orders from people we didn’t know, getting written up in places like Sesame Street’s Parents magazine. We had no idea how they got the CD in the first place. It was all quite a surprise."
Liam is the producer of all six CDs. He listens to all of the songs Justin wants to record, discusses the arrangements and what instruments might be utilized. Justin described Liam as a very talented musician and individual.
Justin writes all the lyrics and the music.
"Some songs come out really quickly. Other ones need editing. It can take me a long time until I am satisfied with the final product," he said.
I never get how artists write music to fit their lyrics.
Justin explained: "Usually I write it at the same time. I am usually sitting down with the guitar and singing a melody and sort of putting words to it. When I have an idea of what I want to write about, I just start singing and using a lot of those words that just come out. Then, I will just sit down and work with it and edit it and just make it fit like I want it to."
The artwork on the first three CDs was by an artist that Liam worked with at a bakery, Thea Taylor. She did such a fantastic job that he hired her for the two other CDs. For the last three CDs, he hired Sarajo Frieden, an artist from Los Angeles.
Justin’s music has changed quite a bit over the years.
"The first three CDs were really folksy, consisting mostly of acoustic guitar, with a little bit of percussion and occasionally a tuba," he said. "Over time, especially with the last three CDs, it has become more like a rock band, with a full band and more with electric guitars."
You can bet some of his songs are related to his childhood.
"A lot of the songs are memories of my own childhood," he explained, "but I do also get ideas from other people. My Pop Fly song comes from my experiences from playing little league baseball, which I wasn’t very good at. Also, my friend Liam described how much he loved baseball, but he was horrible playing it. I just went with that."
Pop Fly is a song about a kid being distracted totally about all of the nature about him and unable to pay attention to the game. After Justin had written Pop Fly, he thought it would be the perfect title for the CD, not only because baseball is such an iconic sport in America, but because the music is kind of power pop rock.
He thought that Pop Fly best expressed what the music sounds like on the CD. By the way, his band members include drummer Gerald Dowd; Dave Winer on trumpet; Jackie Schimmel on bass; and Liam Davis on electric guitar and keyboard.
Justin and his band were asked to perform on the Today Show. He sang Meltdown, which was the title track of his last CD.
"I tried just not to think about it too much until it was over," he said. "The concept of so many people seeing you perform live on the Today Show was pretty frightening, if I thought about it too much. I just kind of put it in the back of my mind and got to the moment of performing, and then once it was over I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I was just on the Today Show!’"
Justin hopes the future allows him to keep doing what he is doing.
"I have the greatest job, the perfect career. I love performing and seeing everyone having fun and singing along with the lyrics," he said.
His advice for future musicians is to just do something that you love.
"The more you practice and hone your art, the better you will be when you decide to make a living at it," he said.
By the way, in case anyone is interested, Justin’s vocals remind me of the group Lonestar. Justin’s new CD Pop Fly was released on April 15.
For more information, visit www.justinrobertsmusic.com
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Answer to last week’s cryptogram:
DON’T FORGET TO WEAR A HELMET AND MOUTH GUARD WHEN PLAYING SPORTS
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com