Kids at heart: Seattle musicians are devoted to their young audiences

“It was a long time coming,” says musician Chris Ballew, swirling on a stool in his West Seattle home studio.

Ballew is speaking, of course, about his second act in music: Caspar Babypants.

Co-founder and frontman of the rock band The Presidents of the United States of America, Ballew says the lifestyle of a stadium rock group wore him down. But a new voice — one he’d always been looking for — struck him one day in the car thanks to a tantrum by his 2-year-old son, Augie.

His wife at the time, Mary-lynn (the two are now divorced), soothed their young son, singing the refrain, “Run, baby, run. Run, run, run.” Augie was calmed.

“I saw it work and I was amazed by it,” Ballew says.