Music & Culture

Danielle Ponder submitted the song "Poor Man's Pain" to the 2020 Tiny Desk Contest.

Music & Culture

The Best 2020 Tiny Desk Contest Entries We Saw This Week: Volume 6

1:24pm April 23, 2020

This week's entries include a call for justice, an urge to reconcile our differences and an invitation to dance. If you want to send us your song, don't delay: There's less than a week left to enter.

Allison Moorer has been reading poetry to stay sane during the pandemic.

Music & Culture

Allison Moorer On The Poetry And Podcasts That Put Things In Perspective

10:00am April 23, 2020

by Allison Moorer

In Our Daily Breather, we ask artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Allison Moorer shares the poetry, podcasts and book that are helping her.

Music & Culture

'Smile' With A Performance By Pianist Monty Alexander And Bassist Ray Brown

9:22am April 23, 2020

Hear a concert with pianist Monty Alexander and bassist Ray Brown from 2000. Host Christian McBride picks his favorite songs from the gig that puts both musicians' joy and camaraderie on full display.

Music & Culture

Watch Anthony D'Amato Walk The Empty Streets Of The Big Easy In 'Love, Again'

9:00am April 23, 2020

by Bruce Warren

His song "Love, Again" "explores the idea of romance at a time when physical contact is off the table," D'Amato says. The video was shot "in the middle of all the eerie, beautiful emptiness."

The Pop Ups play a Tiny Desk Home concert.

Music & Culture

The Pop Ups: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

6:29am April 23, 2020

by Bob Boilen

For "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day," The Pop Ups save the earth from an asteroid, explain sound waves through a sing-a-long and a keytar, and encourage us all to invent and create.

Ronnie Dyson is remembered for his 1970 hit "Why Can't I Touch You" and starring in the Broadway musical Hair. Mark Anthony Neal argues that we overlook Dyson's influence as a transitional soul figure.

Music & Culture

Ronnie Dyson: A Transitional Soul Figure Lost To Time

6:02am April 23, 2020

For One-Hit Wonders/Second-Best Songs, Mark Anthony Neal recommends Ronnie Dyson's "Ain't Nothing Wrong." He's known mostly for 1970's "(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?"

Queue Listen Now

The title of Fiona Apple's Fetch the Bolt Cutters started as a line from a TV crime drama, but became the album's central message: "Fetch your tool of liberation. Set yourself free," Apple says.

Music & Culture

'Fetch Your Tool Of Liberation': Fiona Apple On Setting Herself Free

5:07pm April 22, 2020

Fiona Apple talks about Fetch the Bolt Cutters, her first album in eight years, getting advice from King Princess to release her record early and what she would say to her teenage self.

A second line in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, photographed on April 15, 2018. The parades, along with much else in the city, have been suspended amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music & Culture

NOLA Amidst COVID: Learning From A Tough Past To Cope With An Uncertain Future

12:48pm April 22, 2020

by Alison Fensterstock

The city has recovered from its fair share of disasters and displacements, but the situation it currently finds itself in is unprecedented.

Nick Hakim plays a Tiny Desk (Home) concert.

Music & Culture

Nick Hakim: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

10:11am April 22, 2020

by Bobby Carter

Nick Hakim premieres new music from a dark corner of his bedroom in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Lately, Paul Burch has been making hot chicken while stuck inside.

Music & Culture

Our Daily Breather: Paul Burch's Recipe For Nashville-Style 'Hot Chicken Quarantine'

10:05am April 22, 2020

by Paul Burch

In Our Daily Breather, we ask artists to recommend ways to find calm in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Paul Burch and his wife have spent their time perfecting a recipe for Nashville hot chicken.