Album Notes

“I’d stop the world and meltdown with you.”

Chicago, IL (January 20, 2006)

What used to be known as children’s music gets a new genre-bending twist this spring as Justin Roberts releases his latest alt.kid release, Meltdown! The new CD features 13 original songs exploring kid and family life, lushly enhanced by complex songwriting, arrangements and “wall of sound” production.

It's not uncommon for the typical Justin Roberts fan to throw themselves onto the ground while pounding their fists and crying at the top of their lungs. It's just a lot less likely for this kind of thing to occur while Justin's latest kids' CD, Meltdown!, is cranking out of the stereo. Justin's warm voice, witty lyrics and infectious melodies will leave the kids screaming. For more.

Meltdown! just might be Justin Roberts’ highest energy collection of tunes yet, featuring excited musical arrangements by Liam Davis (a member of the Chicago based band Frisbie), any of which could find a happy home on alternative radio.

Hailed by the New York Times as “a rising star in the world of children’s music,” and the Chicago Tribune as “among the kid-rock royalty,” Justin Roberts’ vocal style has been compared to James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Loudon Wainwright III -- even Green Day, but his style and songwriting is unique. The lyrics are rich with a comedic, sharp insight and sensitivity to the core audience of parents and kids. In fact, Roberts’ songs bring parents and kids together, as evidenced by the mom-dad-kid ensembles seen rocking out at his concerts.

Roberts, a former Montessori preschool teacher who once moonlighted at bars and clubs with the Minneapolis indie folk band Pimentos for Gus, now travels the nation performing for kids of all ages, with shows planned soon in his hometown of Chicago as well as New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, DC, and others cities coast to coast.

Justin seems to remember more clearly than most grownups what it was like to be kid. He explores the wonderful, funny issues in a young life – from imaginary friends, to monsters under the bed, to getting a first pair of glasses. His songs also speak to the intense experience of parenting today – even acknowledging those awful days when everyone’s having a meltdown. “The songs are based on vivid memories of my own childhood and suggestions I get from parents and kids,” he explains. This, from the person whose preschool teacher was concerned that young Justin was spending too much time in front of the school stereo.

Roberts’ other family CDs have won three Parents’ Choice Gold Awards. His last recording, Way Out, was named one of the ten best children’s CDs of the year by Child Magazine and Amazon.com. A new music video is in the works, with clever multimedia featurettes of hits like “Willy Was a Whale,” “Airplane of Food,” “Tie Your Shoes,” and “If You Got 1,” produced by Oil Factory (Coldplay, Gwen Stefani, Madonna) and directed by Tomorrow's Brightest Minds (Death Cab for Cutie, Dandy Warhols).

The Meltdown! CD booklet includes vibrant paintings by Sarajo Frieden and sing-along lyrics. For more information and concert updates, visit www.justinroberts.org.