It seems like suddenly everyone knows the name Kimya Dawson. Not because the Moldy Peaches, her former group, is seeing a resurgence in album sales or she just released a wildly popular solo record. It's because everyone's gotten their hands on a copy of the soundtrack to the movie Juno, on which Dawson's sparse anti-folk music is the focal point. Dawson's noticed a big difference on her current tour, but she's not picky about how her new fans discovered her.

"It seems like there's some people that are coming along out of curiosity and some people who are like, "Okay, I heard of you because of the movie and I went and bought all your albums,'" Dawson says from her cell phone, as her baby, whom she takes on tour with her, is audible in the background. "And some people are like "I have the soundtrack. I like it and I don't need anything else.' Different people are sort of receiving it differently. I feel like a lot of the time people know the songs on my MySpace page and want to hear those. But I play a lot of different stuff and people usually seem pretty alright with the set."

It doesn't sound like it actually matters that much to Dawson that an album centered around her songs has become a best-selling disc or that thousands of people have the CD in rotation in their homes.

"I've never really cared about that kind of stuff," she says simply. "How well an album is doing is not my priority. I make music and I play music and the other stuff is just silly numbers."

What Dawson does care about is her new album, a collection of children's songs she recently finished that's intended to be released late this summer. The record, entitled Alphabutt e. pee, came about organically, mostly thanks to Dawson's own child.

"I've been singing songs for my baby and hanging out in Berkeley with my friend Jason who also has a baby now, and we've recorded together in the past," she explains. "We just thought it would be fun to record some of the kids' songs and then once we started it was really, really fun so we just kept doing more and more."

But don't expect Dawson to dumb things down or start playing all daytime shows meant just for kids. The singer-songwriter is very clear that her music is meant for everyone and doesn't need to be specified for one audience. Plus, she believes it gives parents the opportunity to impart a valuable lesson for their children.

"There are songs on it that could easily be on any other album," Dawson says. "Playing just kids' shows is just censoring myself and playing down to kids. I've got maybe 40 minutes worth of kids' songs, so I could just play the album instead. All of my shows are all-ages anyway and I play a lot of early shows and a lot of kids come to my shows so I really don't know if I want to play shows where I'm like, "I'm only going to play for kids whose parents don't let their kids hear the word "shit."' Whereas maybe they could open their mind a little bit and have a conversation about language with their kids about the use of language and when and where things may be inappropriate or offensive and how to be respectful with your words and how to not use language to be hurtful. And then maybe let them come hear the others songs that are not just for kids."

music@freetimes.com

Kimya Dawson, Angelo Spencer, L'Orchidee D'Hawai

9 p.m. Friday, April 11

Grog Shop

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd.

216.321.5588

Tickets: $12 advance, $14 day of show

dawson She doesn't mind that anti-folk is in.