Children and adults can enjoy Justin Roberts and The Not Ready for Naptime Players at UAB's Alys Stephens Center on Feb. 26.Parents and children can dance the day away Sunday, Feb. 26, with Justin Roberts and The Not Ready for Naptime Players, all-stars of the indie family music scene.
Presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, the show is part of the Vulcan Materials Company Family Series.
Two-time Grammy nominee Roberts is truly one of the “all-stars” of the indie family music scene. For nearly 20 years, Roberts has been creating the soundtrack to families’ lives, crafting songs that navigate the joys and sorrows of growing up. Roberts and his band, The Not Ready for Naptime Players, have traveled the globe, from Hong Kong to New York and Miami to Seattle. With songs like “Must Be This Tall,” “Dodgeball,” “Looking for Trains,” “It’s Your Birthday,” “Meltdown,” “Picture Day,” “I Lost the Tooth I Lost,” “Backyard Spaceship,” “Thought It Was a Monster” and many more, kids will enjoy this live concert as much as parents. USA Today calls Roberts “hands down the best songwriter in the genre.” The New York Times said of Roberts, “He has a remarkable ability to see through a child’s eyes … Roberts is the Judy Blume of kiddie rock.”
The show is set for 2 p.m. in the center’s Jemison Concert Hall. Tickets are $8 for children and $13 for adults. The Alys Stephens Center offers a family fun discount: After four tickets, the price automatically adjusts to $7.50 per ticket, with online purchase only. This offer is not valid with any other offers.
The Not Ready for Naptime Players are Liam Davis, electric guitar/keyboards/vocals/musical director; Gerald Dowd, drums/vocals; Jacqueline Schimmel, bass/vocals/band archivist; and David Winer, trumpet/keyboard/percussion.
The band’s dozen albums include a collection of lullabies, as well as songs retelling Bible stories from the New Testament and songs from the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament. The group’s album “Jungle Gym” “ascends through the collective memories of childhood. The recording takes listeners on a journey through iconic experiences that kids will relate to and parents will remember. It’s an often funny and unexpectedly rocking ride: from magic moments sailing on a moonlit cardboard box, through the temporary traumas of getting lost, to the anticipation and wonder of a school fire drill,” according to the band’s website, justinrobertsmusic.com.
The group’s CD “Yellow Bus” won Roberts his first Parents’ Choice GOLD award and was featured in People magazine. Disney’s Family Fun magazine proclaimed, “Hop on the bus, you’re guaranteed to enjoy the ride.”