Tag: NPR Music

This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk honors the anniversaries of landmark albums that have shaped the course of music and culture. Alanté Serene | June 6, 2025 When Amerie arrived at the Tiny Desk, her enthusiastic energy and bright smile was an instant mood boost. The warm entrance felt fitting for an artist whose music embodies the soul of summer: bold percussion, breezy vocals and the feeling of endless possibilities. When her sophomore album Touch dropped in 2005, it introduced a national audience to the infectious rhythms of go-go. Rooted in Washington, D.C., go-go is known for its layered percussion, [See More…]

This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk honors the anniversaries of landmark albums that have shaped the course of music and culture. Bobby Carter | June 2, 2025 Bay Area ambassador E-40 moves with the energy of an up-and-coming emcee, but he’s been around a minute. To put it 40 Water’s way: “I’ve been doing this since Kermit the Frog was a pollywog!” Our biggest hurdle to clear was packing in three decades of music at the Tiny Desk, but 40 Fonzarelli and his band clocked weeks of rehearsal to make sure this office was rockin’. E-40’s sophomore solo album In [See More…]

Felix Contreras | May 27, 2025 Based on real-life events and people, Buena Vista Social Club features many characters and lots of great Cuban music. It takes such skill to reflect music of a bygone era, even more to sound fresh and vibrant night after night for months at a time. Scaled down for the Tiny Desk, the show is no less magical. Before it was a Broadway musical racking up Tony Award nominations, the Buena Vista Social Club was a second chance. After the Cuban Revolution, many of the country’s beloved musicians were lost to time, but in 1996, [See More…]

Felix Contreras | May 16, 2025 Carín León is an old soul. There is no other way to account for the power of the emotion in his voice. His 16-piece band tests the limited space behind the Tiny Desk, but when the brass takes over to punctuate a performance, Leon’s commanding presence shows why he’s one of the best at what he does. Regional Mexican music is based upon song forms from another era, but León’s lyrics add a new spin on heartbreak and love lost. This set opens with “Ese Vato No Te Queda,” followed by two songs from [See More…]

Bobby Carter | April 28, 2025 For Madison McFerrin to deliver the proper experience of her live show at the Tiny Desk, she wanted to be sure she had the freedom to use the instruments that helped identify her. The LA-based singer has become well-known for looping vocals over and over again; thus, creating instruments in real-time. To celebrate her upcoming album, SCORPIO, McFerrin brings a Chicago-based band led by Kameron Lowe and featuring The Lovely Lowe Sisters on background vocals. Given her family history, McFerrin’s dive into the music business was a foregone conclusion. She and her brothers Taylor [See More…]

Anamaria Sayre | April 24, 2025 Grupo Frontera, which was headlining backyard bailes well before stadium shows, feels perfectly made for Tiny Desk. Beneath the glow of fluorescent office lights and backed against trinket-stuffed shelves, the match feels divinely ordained. Normally, jazzy vocal trills and norteño cumbia rhythms are star-crossed lovers, but not at the Tiny Desk. At the center of a pop-infused reinvigoration of traditional Mexican sounds, the members of Grupo Frontera are masters of unlikely pairings. Mega-producer and songwriter Edgar Barrera discovered Grupo Frontera at a quinceanera in his hometown, enthralled by the band’s authenticity. He encouraged the [See More…]

Nikki Birch | April 9, 2025 Nubya Garcia smiles as she lights her bespoke incense. Named for Odyssey, her 2024 album, the scent is meant to give the same multisensory experience that she enjoys while listening to or creating music. As the fragrance fills the NPR Music office, her powerful, yet delicate compositions take us on a tranquil journey. Garcia’s deeply rich tenor saxophone graces swelling strings and hypnotic grooves throughout this Tiny Desk. “Dawn” sets the stage and “Solstice” turns up the tempo, then the band crests the wave into “Clarity” and the album’s title track. Garcia’s been compared [See More…]

Maia Stern | March 13, 2025 Stephan Jenkins told me that he regularly watches Tiny Desk concerts, so when it came time for Third Eye Blind to play one of its own, the band took the opportunity seriously. Leading up to the show, Third Eye Blind played a handful of mellow gigs at smaller venues, stripping down its arrangements, blocking the stage with the same dimensions and leaning into the challenges and limitations of the Tiny Desk. This set starts at the beginning. “Slow Motion” and “Motorcycle Drive By” are early Third Eye Blind tracks; they may not have the [See More…]

Bobby Carter | March 5, 2025 Of the 30 million people who have watched Daniel Caesar’s Tiny Desk from 2018, plenty of them raved about the band, specifically the bass player. Little did we know that the young, unassuming musician named Saya Gray would be playing at the Desk seven years later, this time front and center. Gray’s pop songs are experimental in nature, so I was eager to hear how her music would cozy up to our space. That inclination to stretch out and try anything comes from her musical family: Her mother, who moved from Japan to Canada, [See More…]