NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

The former Tiny Desk Contest winner brought the crowd to its collective feet.

The Brooklyn-based artist, in addition to offering up an impeccable vocal performance, brought perhaps the only flute solo of SXSW 2019 to NPR Music's Tiny Desk Family Hour.

The former Civil Wars star performed a new song that even makes his kids cry.

Laura Gibson works through a handful of tenderhearted songs: two of them unreleased and two of them from her full-length debut, If You Come to Greet Me.

When Athens, Ga., songwriter Vic Chesnutt was on tour in support of his album, “North Star Deserter,” he stopped by NPR to perform live at All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen's desk. Chesnutt played five songs, including two entirely new ones.

The music of Sam Phillips unfolds like perfect, miniature pop dramas. Of all her incarnations as a performer — first as a Christian singer, then as a pop singer — the current Sam Phillips is one of the most alluring. Phillips performs four songs from “Don't Do Anything.”

David Eugene Edwards performs his fiery Americana and covers a rare Bob Dylan song.

Hear the singer give an intimate acoustic performance at the desk of NPR Music's Bob Boilen.

Hear the legendary singer perform at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.

In a solo show at NPR Music, John Darnielle's twitchy energy serves his fearless songwriting well.

In a performance at NPR, the talented singer's voice is powerful without unnecessary melodrama.

The band's sullen, spacious music was a perfect fit for the intimacy of the NPR Music offices.

Watch the singer-songwriter mix American bluegrass and Chinese folk from the NPR Music offices.

The reggae star performs his hit "Hold You" and more from the NPR Music offices in Washington, D.C.

The band brings a frenetic, infectious blend of American and Mexican folk to the NPR Music offices.

Even in a stripped-down acoustic set, Tinariwen's trance-inducing desert music doesn't disappoint.

Watch singer Teri Gender Bender transform from a soft-spoken musician into a rock 'n' roll beast.

The band's keen sense of song prevails, especially in a new song called "It All Means Nothing."

One minute, Lucius sounds like a '60s girl group; the next might conjure images of Emmylou Harris.

With members of The Decemberists, the band lends a snappy, lilting quality to songs of alienation.

Frontman Kevin Barnes uses the intimacy of the NPR Music offices to try out some quiet new material.

The musician unpacks an array of traditional Vietnamese instruments — and 1,000 years of culture.

The teenagers play a restrained, homespun mix of folk and pop with undeniably sweet harmonies.

The Howard University vocal jazz ensemble performs beautiful African-American spirituals.

The Phish star was in town to put on a huge show, but the songs here feel more personal than that.

The producer presides over an all-instrumental, free-form trio with Brian Blade and Jim Wilson.

Even without its confetti cannon, the band brings a fun mix of brass and brash to the NPR offices.

Watch the rapper perform three songs from Beauty And The Beast live at the NPR Music offices.

While on tour with The Arcs, the powerhouse mariachi band performs live in the NPR Music offices.

The singer-songwriter gives a warmhearted performance of two new songs, an old favorite and a hymn.

Hear the spirited young singer-songwriter take on religion, poverty and politics, armed with just a guitar and some unrelenting hooks.

Hear McCaslin, the saxophonist and bandleader whose group backed David Bowie on Blackstar, near the anniversary of that album's release. Selections include an instrumental take on Bowie's "Lazarus."

With a voice that borrows heavily from opera, Downs performs the kind of full-throated mariachi singing that would fit right in at Mexico City's Garibaldi Square — ground zero for mariachi.

The indie rap denizen behind one of 2017's most inventive albums came to the nation's capital to represent all the Brick Body Kids who Still Daydream.

The LA band's signature sound is intimate and demonstrative, haunting yet uplifting, an old-fashioned rock beat under glimmering guitar and keys. And at the Tiny Desk, it was at ease.

One of the joys of listening to The Weather station is the tension and release in the group's enchanting music. It's what made the band's most recent album one of Bob Boilen's favorite of 2017.

The saxophonist is a big thinker whose mesmerizing compositions chronicle the music of his native Puerto Rico with the help of an adventurous jazz quartet.

The preacher's son from Compton brought his flair for the dramatic, and an air of rebellion, to the Tiny Desk.

Carolina Eyck, the first artist to bring a theremin to the Tiny Desk, plays the air with the kind of lyrical phrasing and "fingered" articulation that takes a special kind of virtuosity.

The Swedish singer sways and writhes as he and his band create a dream state calming enough to slow the day's hectic pace to a crawl. Take a seat on a comfy couch and have a listen.

The irrepressible harpist proves that the instrument can be as tempestuous as a tango, as complex as a Bach fugue and sing as serenely as a church choir.

The Austin, Texas band brought old-school R&B horns, bongos and deep grooves to the Tiny Desk.

The Iranian-Dutch singer and producer performs four songs during her Tiny Desk quarantine set.

Patrick Grossi's heavenly voice is backed by a stunning view of the San Gabriel mountains in this Tiny Desk quarantine video.

The R&B star celebrates her new album, Heaux Tales, with a Tiny Desk quarantine concert.

At the drummer's house in Baltimore, Turnstile's high-energy hardcore is surrounded by stuffed animals, presumably pogoing and windmilling in your imagination.

spalding and the Loving presences play a spirit-nourishing Tiny Desk home concert featuring selections from her Songwrights Apothecary Lab, (S.A.L.) project.

The Chilean vocalist and her orchestra's combination of Mexican folkloric and European chamber music make for a musical and visual treat.

The band creates a surreal atmosphere at the Tiny Desk, reimagining the sonically adventurous sounds of A Light for Attracting Attention.

The young proponent of traditional music brought a talented band, his astonishing imagination and a selection of what he calls "Black folk music from the future" to the Tiny Desk.

The English singer-songwriter and her band give a cathartic, playful performance at the Tiny Desk.

Sunny Jain's music promotes the idea of not just crossing boundaries but obliterating them all together.

The Chihuahuan artist transfigures traditional Sinaloan instrumentation into folky new styles.

The Rwandan group's determination to spread its musical message is an inspiration.