The buzz at Arlington’s IOTA Club and Café on Saturday afternoon was palpable. A half hour before the doors opened for the big show, the line stretched down the block to Whitlow’s on Wilson. Was it a special Arcade Fire show? Nope. A closer look at the line revealed a number of attendees who were still many years from IOTA’s usual 21-and-over age limit. Ralph’s World had come to Arlington.

IOTA’s regular weekend afternoon kids’ shows are a big hit among both parents and tykes, and Ralph’s World attracts a crowd that is equal parts young fans and parents seeking an alternative to the mind-numbing sickly sweet treacle that usually passes for children’s music. The club was soon filled to capacity with preschoolers and parents. But Ralph Covert and his band did not disappoint the crowd of latecomers (including this DCist) who were turned away at the door, playing a spirited 15-minute set in the parking lot next to the club just before the main show (captured in this image by Jeff Lenard).

Covert and his bandmates are at the head of a movement to provide kids (and their parents) with smart, good music. Other notable alt-kid-rockers include They Might Be Giants and former Del Fuegos lead singer Dan Zanes (playing a show with Trout Fishing in America at the new Strathmore Music Center on Sunday, Feb. 13). A bevy of alternative music gurus also appear on the compilation albums “Music for the Kids” and “Music for the Kids, Too,” including Wilco, Flaming Lips, Matthew Sweet, Cake, Barenaked Ladies and Ron Sexsmith. All of these artists appear in the Times Herald-Record’s list of “Children’s Records Parents Won’t Hate.”