Preservation Hall Jazz Band
December 21, 2013

The hot and historic New Orleans band brings a tuba-wielding Santa and some original holiday cheer.

La Santa Cecilia
December 16, 2013

The video here provides just a hint of the L.A. band's dynamic live shows, albeit a spectacular one.

Christine Salem
December 14, 2013

Salem sings work songs and chants from the maloya tradition on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

Dessa
December 9, 2013

The whip-smart rapper, singer, poet and songwriter performs three tracks from Parts of Speech.

Sarah Jarosz
December 7, 2013

Jarosz and her small backing band craft a careful mix of technical proficiency and poppy warmth.

The Dismemberment Plan
December 2, 2013

The band exudes playfulness and wry charm throughout these three songs from Uncanney Valley.

Kronos Quartet
November 25, 2013

The intrepid champions of new music bring a lullaby, rare blues and a work by Bryce Dessner to NPR.

Waxahatchee
November 23, 2013

This is Katie Crutchfield as Waxahatchee, playing intimate music for an intimate setting.

John Legend
November 16, 2013

The soul singer retains the easygoing grace of a performer fit for any stage — even a tiny one.

Debashish Bhattacharya
November 12, 2013

Bhattacharya draws on North Indian classical music, but blues also pours out of his stunning work.

Gary Burton
November 9, 2013

The jazz vibraphone pioneer is 70 now, but that hasn't slowed his flying four-mallet technique.

Ashley Monroe
November 3, 2013

This three-song set in the NPR Music offices captures a nice cross-section of Monroe's appeal.

Neko Case
October 31, 2013

Watch a Halloween Tiny Desk Concert in which Case performs with Kelly Hogan and Eric Bachmann.

San Fermin
October 28, 2013

The orchestral folk-pop band's little song-worlds burst with ambition, talent and extreme joy.

Typhoon
October 26, 2013

The dozen members of this Portland, Ore. band crammed behind the Tiny Desk for a transcendent set.

Daughter
October 21, 2013

Pretty and melancholy, the Londoners' music conjures a perfect mix of gloom, desire and hostility.

Matt Ulery's Loom
October 19, 2013

The bassist composes beautiful, unpretentious music for an unusual jazz band with accordion.

Okkervil River
October 15, 2013

The band performs three songs from a record inspired by the childhood of singer Will Sheff.

Valerie June
October 12, 2013

Short of seeing her live and in person, this is the best way to encounter June's heartfelt sound.

Superchunk
October 7, 2013

Watch the venerable band translate its electric sound to acoustic instruments in an intimate way.

Lawrence Brownlee
October 5, 2013

The operatic tenor, acclaimed for his Rossini, circles back to his roots as a singer of spirituals.

Oliver 'Tuku' Mtukudzi
September 30, 2013

The Zimbabwean legend performs songs from the mournful but celebratory Sarawoga for NPR Music.

Hem
September 28, 2013

Hem makes a homey, fireside kind of music, with songs that feel as if they've always been there.

The Cristina Pato Trio
September 21, 2013

A Galician bagpiper and her trio take Celtic sounds in an entirely wild and wonderful direction.

Shovels & Rope
September 16, 2013

The husband-and-wife duo mixes rowdy folk-rock and rootsy ballads, with the help of a canine friend.

Arturo O'Farrill
September 14, 2013

With an eye on both the past and the future, O'Farrill has jazz and Afro-Cuban music in his DNA.

The 1975
September 10, 2013

Performing solo, singer Matthew Healy doesn't hesitate to transform both his songs and himself.

Bombino
September 7, 2013

For our 300th Tiny Desk Concert, we showcase a Tuareg guitarist's fierce, hypnotic, alluring jams.

Baths
September 4, 2013

Watch Baths' Will Wiesenfeld perform mysterious, textured electronic music in the NPR offices.

Steve Gunn
August 31, 2013

Watch Gunn's trio perform a set of hypnotic long-form jams that are perfect for taking it easy.

Buika
August 26, 2013

Concha Buika's voice comes from Africa and the past. Watch her perform in the NPR Music offices.

The Front Bottoms
August 19, 2013

The community that's formed around The Front Bottoms speaks to the band's passion and compassion.

Mother Falcon
August 17, 2013

The 17-member chamber-rock collective uses its size in the service of great, snappy, stirring songs.

Alpine
August 12, 2013

The Australian sextet crafts busily impeccable, harmony-intensive pop music with a danceable sway.

Jim Guthrie
August 10, 2013

Guthrie and his band drove 18 hours round-trip from Ontario to perform three songs for NPR Music.

Keaton Henson
August 3, 2013

Henson's voice is so fragile and hushed, if you were 10 feet away from him you'd barely hear a peep.

Dana Falconberry
July 29, 2013

Watch Falconberry and five bandmates perform three delicate songs from her recent album Leelanau.

Time For Three
July 27, 2013

Hear the "classically trained garage band" perform with staggering technique and contagious energy.

Guards
July 22, 2013

Hear three sturdy pop songs from In Guards We Trust, performed live at the NPR Music offices.

Cheyenne Mize
July 20, 2013

The singer, instrumentalist and music therapist plays slinky, forceful songs at NPR Music.

Alice Russell
July 15, 2013

When the British singer performs, her emotionally fiery music just gets hotter and grittier.

Frank Turner
July 13, 2013

Two men with unplugged instruments convey the bawdy rowdiness of a full band.

Skinny Lister
July 8, 2013

The rowdy English folk-punk band brings its barely controlled mayhem to the NPR Music offices.

Cheick Hamala Diabate
July 6, 2013

The Malian musician and his band craft melodies and rhythms that cut across age and ethnicity.

Laura Mvula
July 1, 2013

The U.K. singer performs some of her most intimate material in a short set at the NPR Music offices.

Maya Beiser
June 29, 2013

A brilliant cellist with a stunning command of her instrument, Beiser performs at the NPR offices.

Patty Griffin
June 24, 2013

Watch the singer-songwriter and her band perform three songs from her fine new album, American Kid.

Billy Bragg
June 17, 2013

One of the world's finest folksingers channels the spirit of Woody Guthrie at the NPR Music offices.

NO BS! Brass Band
June 15, 2013

An 11-piece brass band turns up the funk and flies the flag high for its native Richmond, Va.

The National
June 10, 2013

Watch the band perform acoustic arrangements of four songs from its new album, Trouble Will Find Me.

OK Go
June 3, 2013

OK Go helps us transport the Tiny Desk from NPR Music's old headquarters to our new facility.

Imani Winds
May 29, 2013

Imani Winds' members shrink Igor Stravinsky down to size in a quintet take on The Rite of Spring.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian
May 20, 2013

The 73-year-old Iranian icon unleashes torrents of swooping, soaring sound that elicit goosebumps.

Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale
May 13, 2013

The veteran country players mix corny humor, musical merrymaking and timeless vocal harmonies.

Nicola Benedetti
May 6, 2013

Watch the violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet, soulful tendrils of sound.

Father Figures
April 29, 2013

Zany, brainy and danceable, these guys' music mixes rock and jazz like King Crimson at its fiercest.

Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu
April 22, 2013

The duo's quietly energetic performance hangs over the the NPR Music offices like a soft mist.

Yo La Tengo
April 15, 2013

To coincide with the release of the band's 13th album, Fade, Yo La Tengo performs an acoustic set.

Efterklang
April 8, 2013

The Danish band ransacks the NPR Music offices looking for sound-making material and new ideas.

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
March 11, 2013

Watch one of the best fiddlers on the planet and a subtle guitar master work their magic.

The Lone Bellow
March 4, 2013

The fast-rising Brooklyn trio sings beautiful, heartfelt, impeccably harmonized folk-pop songs.

Mary Halvorson Quintet
February 25, 2013

The guitarist brings a decidedly non-standard approach to jazz's standard practices.

Night Beds
February 18, 2013

Winston Yellen's arresting voice propels a lighthearted but deeply affecting set at the NPR office.

The xx
February 11, 2013

In The xx's songs, all the calm chilliness in the world can't quite contain an exposed heart.

Cantus
February 4, 2013

The a cappella ensemble sings widely divergent songs from American, European and Sufi traditions.

Of Montreal
January 28, 2013

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

Black Prairie
January 14, 2013

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

Lucius
January 7, 2013

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

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