Samia • Tiny Desk Concert • 2023

Stephen Thompson | November 8, 2023

There's plenty of curious timing in Samia's Tiny Desk debut. For starters, this was the final Tiny Desk concert produced by Bob Boilen — he came in for one last Monday to accommodate the performance — which meant the singer-songwriter had to endure the reluctant tributes paid to Bob as she waited patiently to perform. Then there's the timing of Samia's song selection: All five of these tracks appeared on her terrific debut album (2020's The Baby) and not this year's equally magnificent Honey. Which is saying nothing of the fact that Samia is actress Kathy Najimy's daughter, yet we opted to run this performance a full week after the conclusion of Hocus Pocus Season! What were we thinking?

Fortunately, Samia's set nevertheless provides a stunning showcase for her charisma, vocal talent and deftly detailed lyricism. She possesses a remarkable knack for specificity in her songwriting, which finds her name-dropping her favorite bands, recounting conversations in devastating detail and even shining a light on songwriting itself. ("I only write songs about things that I'm scared of," she sings in "Is There Something in the Movies?" before adding, "So here, now you're deathless in art.")

Taking advantage of the Tiny Desk's quietude, Samia and her band chose to focus on the more subdued side of their sound, even deploying the sample of her grandmother that opens "Pool." As a result, it's easier and more rewarding than ever to hang on her every word.

SET LIST

"Is There Something in the Movies?"

"Big Wheel"

"Winnebago" 

"Triptych"

"Pool"

Chappell Roan • Tiny Desk Concert • 2024

https://www.iamchappellroan.com/

Roan’s marvelous debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, came out last September — just in time to fit into the window of eligibility for the 2025 Grammys, hint hint wink — and it finds the singer toying confidently with a persona inspired in part by drag performers. Flanked by a pink-clad band, she wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to serve up an absolute look, complete with white makeup and a towering wig (bolstered by a wadded-up trash bag tucked inside, as well as an assortment of stubbed-out cigarette butts), which now sits comfortably atop a skull Cypress Hill left us.

It’s only appropriate that Roan would forever alter the Tiny Desk. Because, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this is a stunning set: Performing five songs from Midwest Princess, Roan worked through songs of youthful heartache (“Casual”), queer liberation (“Pink Pony Club”), mournful alienation (“California”) and two decidedly different forms of chaotic seduction (“Picture You,” “Red Wine Supernova”). In every mood and every song, she’s utterly commanding — witty and whip-smart, vocally assured and charismatic beyond words.

She didn’t just leave her wig; she left a mark.

SET LIST

“Casual”

“Pink Pony Club”

“Picture You”

“California”

“Red Wine Supernova”

Fred again..: Tiny Desk Concert • 2023

SET LIST

"Kyle (i found you)"

"Roze (forgive)"

"Adam (interlude)"

"Me (heavy)"

"Berwyn (interlude)"

"Delilah (pull me out of this)"

"Faisal (envelops me)"

Haley Heynderickx • Tiny Desk Concert • 2018

Unlike her solo acoustic contest entries, which are quiet, mostly solemn affairs, Haley Heynderickx came to NPR's Tiny Desk with her band: Denzel Mendoza on trombone, Lily Breshears on Moog bass, and Phil Rogers on drums. They opened with the song that is most out of character for Haley, a song she wrote as part of a song challenge and she challenged the crowd here at NPR to a sing-a-long. We didn't do so well, it was early in the day — but this song about self-doubt and searching for life's meaning with its cathartic phrase "I need to start a garden" (which is also the title to her 2018 debut) is a potent reminder to take action when life gets bewildering.

The second song, "No Face," is a reminder to love people as kindly as you can; otherwise you'll wind up like the character No Face from the Hayao Miyazaki film Spirited Away. In introducing the final song, "Worth It," Haley Heynderickx told the Tiny Desk crowd that it was written in a basement with the belief that it would never leave that basement. With this performance now behind her and the chance for hundreds of thousands of people to hear these personal but universal songs, there will be many of us, myself included, thrilled that her songs are out in the open, ready to be heard.

Set List

"Oom Sha La La"

"No Face"

"Worth It"

Musicians

Haley Heynderickx (vocals, guitar), Denzel Mendoza (trombone), Lily Breshears (Moog bass), Phil Rogers (drums)

Adrianne Lenker • Tiny Desk (Home) Concert • 2020

https://www.adriannelenker.com

By Bob Boilen | November 18, 2020

For her Tiny Desk (home) concert, Adrianne Lenker's home is a camper trailer parked somewhere in Joshua Tree National Park. It's the appropriate setting for the five songs she performs from her new album, tunes birthed in a wooden cabin in Massachusetts.

The songs, the words, the voice of Adrianne Lenker has been at the top of my year-end musical loves for the past five years, more so than any other artist. It began with her work as the singer and songwriter on Big Thief's electric debut album, Masterpiece, in 2016 and runs through this year's two sister solo albums, one titled songs and the other instrumentals. Those albums contain nothing more than an acoustic guitar, voice, and the bug, birds, and creatures captured while recording.

Her yearning voice, simultaneously frail and strong, draws me to those songs — songs about people, everyday life, everyday death, and ordinary places. All the while, she picks the tunes out of her guitar or paints the rhythms with a brush. These are songs worth spending time with, simple on first listen, but so much more profound once you live with them. 

SET LIST

    "zombie girl"

    "two reverse"

    "dragon eyes"

    "anything"

    "ingydar"

Yo La Tengo • NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert From The Archives • 2013

We've been filming Tiny Desk concerts for more than 10 years. While revisiting our archives, we discovered that some of our earliest concerts never made it to YouTube! 

Watch Yo La Tengo’s Tiny Desk concert from 2013 

The Avett Brothers • NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert • 2009

With all due respect to its terrific albums and kinetic, frenetic live shows, if The Avett Brothers could put on a three-song acoustic concert at every workplace in America, the band would be a world-beating colossus. For proof, listen to this performance in the NPR Music offices.

Laura Marling • Tiny Desk (Home) Concert • 2020

While many artists have postponed the release of their new music in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Laura Marling rushed to change the release date of her album from late summer to April. On this Tiny Desk (home) concert, we find her in her living room, with an intimate performance of songs from her just-released record Songs For Our Daughter. The album is an homage to a future generation of women and to Maya Angelou's Letter to My Daughter, a collection of essays addressed to a fictional daughter. The warm, home setting makes room for Laura Marling's extraordinary voice to shine.

Kevin Morby And Waxahatchee • Tiny Desk (Home) Concert • 2020

On the raw video Kevin Morby and Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee) sent to us, Kevin takes a deep breath, gives a sweet smile as he looks into his camera, clasps his hands, and says, "Hello everyone, we're going stir crazy — this is take number 55." The performance, though, feels fresh and relaxed. Recorded at Kevin's tiny desk in Kansas City, they play two songs from Waxahatchee's new album Saint Cloud, sing together on Kevin's 2016 tune "Beautiful Strangers," and find new meaning in the late Jason Molina's song "Farewell Transmission." NPR

SET LIST

"Fire"

"Beautiful Strangers"

"Lilacs"

"Farewell Transmission (Songs: Ohia Cover)"