Tiny Desk Concerts is a video series of live concerts hosted by

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

at the desk of ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on ...

'' host

Bob Boilen Bob B Boilen (b. April 10, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He is the host and creator of NPR's online music show ''All Songs Considered'' and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts series. In 1979 Bob Boilen p ...

in Washington, D.C. The first Tiny Desk Concert came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson left

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

frustrated that they couldn't hear the music over the crowd noise. Thompson joked that the musician, folk singer

Laura Gibson Laura Anne Gibson (born August 9, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She currently records for the U.S. independent label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's most recent album ''Goners'' w ...

, should just perform at Boilen's desk. A month later Boilen arranged for her to do just that, making an impromptu recording and posting it online. The name is taken from Boilen's 1970s psychedelic dance band called Tiny Desk Unit. The series has previously drawn criticism for narrowness in the musical genres it includes—described as focused on " hipster-infused

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

" by Zachary Crockett at ''Vox''—to the exclusion of genres like

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

and hip-hop. However, the series' musical focus has broadened in scope over time. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, NPR Music enlisted artists to instead record their own virtual performances under the re-branded title Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts. The 2022 Tiny Desk Concert winner, Alisa Amador, was the first performance back at the desk with an audience since the pandemic started. , the series included more than 800 concerts viewed a collective 2 billion times on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Tiny Desk Contest

In December 2014, NPR announced it would host its first contest, inviting musicians to submit a video of one of their songs. A jury of musicians and NPR staff choose a winner to play a Tiny Desk Concert. The contest has continued annually, each year drawing more than 6000 submissions. Jurors have included

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike G ...

Dan Auerbach Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...

of the Black Keys, and

Jess Wolfe Jessica Wolfe is an American singer, songwriter, bass synth player and actress from Los Angeles, California. She is a founding member along with Holly Laessig of the indie pop musical group Lucius. She was married to Lucius drummer, Dan Molad, ...

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from '' Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames ('' praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from ...

. Tiny Desk Contest winners have included: *

Fantastic Negrito Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz (born January 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album '' The Last Days of Oakland'' won a Grammy award f ...

(2015) *

Gaelynn Lea Gaelynn Lea Tressler (born January 21, 1984) is an American folk singer, violinist, public speaker and disability advocate from Duluth, Minnesota. She won NPR's 2016 Tiny Desk Contest. Early life Gaelynn Lea was born with osteogenesis imperfe ...

(2016) * Tank and the Bangas (2017) *

Naia Izumi Naia Izumi is an American virtuoso guitarist and singer songwriter from Columbus, Georgia. Early life Izumi received his first guitar by age 10. He learned how to play the instrument in a closet, hiding from his father, who disapproved of his i ...

(2018) *

Quinn Christopherson Quinn Christopherson is an American singer-songwriter. He won the 2019 Tiny Desk Contest with his entry "Erase Me," a song exploring his experience coming out as a transgender man. Christopherson was recognized by NPR for his submission in the 2018 ...

Tiny Desk Contest

Concerts by year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

References

External links