The place to watch the craft of musicians not on Youtube

As a musician or music lover do you ever want to watch an artist to pay attention to the craft of the music without ads and commercialized styling?  There’s a place for you. Bob Boilen from All Songs Considered hosts a series on NPR that takes place behind his tiny desk. What a great concept. Simple and multi-genre music curated for your interest. Boilen mentions the concept was hatched when,  “in 2008 with a joke: After Stephen Thompson and I saw singer Laura Gibson drowned out by a noisy bar in Austin, Stephen said we should just ask her to come play at my desk.” There you go. Now it’s time to be addicted to the video and music. Stare closely at the bookshelves and find yourself lost in music that is well worth your time.

Here are a few of my current favorites.

Let’s start here. Do you play the guitar?  Are you a songwriter? Then the Lau Noah performance on February 11th of this year will inspire you. I was mesmerized by the passion of her songwriting intertwined with beautiful skill in classical guitar. Her writing is poetic and made more beautiful by the passionate presentation.

What about famous folks?  This show has them too. H.E.R. (Having Everything Revealed) recently appeared on the Grammys and won two of her five nominations. In this Tiny Desk performance she plays two guitars and then the keyboard.  (Not at once, but that would be great to see!) It is amazing to watch the group interact. We are guests in this intimate scene. When you can watch this closely, you realize just why there were that many award nominations.

Maybe drumming is your thing.  The first 30 seconds of the Pedrito Martinez group will amaze you then. The rest of the time you might just wish you are in the group.  Feel the movement in this Afro-Cuban experience as you realize that you are out of your chair drumming on every surface of your house. Even Pedrito can’t sit down around the 7 minute mark for the keyboard solo. Fifteen minutes was too fast!

So many choices!

The month of February has musicians from so many genres. I don’t have to search for a few new songs to listen to or watch. Like me, you might just find yourself waiting for the next performance wishing that you knew Bob Boilen and played a guitar. Check out the brilliance here https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/

Find the article about the beginning here: https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2013/07/30/206985844/the-old-tiny-desk-gets-demolished