Her songs are all over a hit indie soundtrack, and new fans are mobbing her concerts. Most musicians would see this as good news. But for Kimya Dawson, the 35-year-old den mother of the tiny anti-folk scene, all the attention for her music in the film “Juno” is a little troubling.

“I’m totally scared,” she said recently at Southpaw, a small club in Brooklyn where she was playing a sold-out afternoon show open to all ages. Literally all ages: among the toddlers in attendance was her 17-month-old daughter, Panda, whom Ms. Dawson breast-fed backstage while explaining her fears of getting too famous too fast.

A do-it-yourself singer who writes in childlike, stream-of-consciousness verse and has “LAFF LOUD” tattooed on her fingers, she now finds herself competing with major celebrities like Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and Radiohead for the top spot on the Billboard album chart. It’s a strange situation for Ms. Dawson, who with her old band, the Moldy Peaches, became a leader of the loosely knit, underground punk-meets-folk scene.

Last week the soundtrack to “Juno,” the snarky romantic comedy about a pregnant 16-year-old, reached No. 3 in a close contest, selling 68,000 copies, and this week the race for No. 1 looks just as tight. On Monday morning Ms. Dawson is booked on “The View” on ABC to perform with Adam Green of the Moldy Peaches; the group’s song “Anyone Else but You” receives prominent treatment in the film.