Justin Roberts

Justin Roberts is truly one of the "all-stars" of the indie family music scene. For nearly 20 years, the three-time Grammy Nominee has been creating the soundtrack to families' lives—helping kids navigate the joys and sorrows of growing up while allowing parents to remember their own childhoods. Along with his band, The Not Ready for Naptime Players, Justin has traveled the globe, from Hong Kong to New York, and Miami to Seattle. His songs are the kind of get-stuck-in-your-head pop nuggets that more draw more comparisons to Elvis Costello, Fountains of Wayne, and Paul Simon than any simple nursery rhymes, prompting USA Today to call him "hands-down the best songwriter in the genre." In addition to his recordings, Justin is also the author of two acclaimed picture books: The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade and The Great Henry Hopendower.

Justin is dad to his 1½-year-old son.

In this episode, Justin talks about becoming a happy, proud (but utterly exhausted) father at 50 and how he found magic in even the darkest days of those first sleep-deprived months. He shares the advantages and struggles that come when both parents are full-time professional musicians—he's married to the lovely Anna Steinhoff, a talented baroque cellist. And we talk about where he found the confidence to make a life creating kids music and why that particular genre is so easy to dismiss, but provides him the greatest creative freedom.

Justin's 15th studio album Wild Life is his most personal and intimate to date. It comes out February 28th.

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