Season 2013 (2013)
Episodes: 68
Star Cast:
Episodes List
Ep.1 Lucius
Air Date: 2013-01-07
One minute, Lucius sounds like a '60s girl group; the next might conjure images of Emmylou Harris.
Ep.2 Black Prairie
Air Date: 2013-01-14
With members of The Decemberists, the band lends a snappy, lilting quality to songs of alienation.
Ep.3 Of Montreal
Air Date: 2013-01-28
Frontman Kevin Barnes uses the intimacy of the NPR Music offices to try out some quiet new material.
Ep.4 Cantus
Air Date: 2013-02-04
The a cappella ensemble sings widely divergent songs from American, European and Sufi traditions.
Ep.5 The xx
Air Date: 2013-02-11
In The xx's songs, all the calm chilliness in the world can't quite contain an exposed heart.
Ep.6 Night Beds
Air Date: 2013-02-18
Winston Yellen's arresting voice propels a lighthearted but deeply affecting set at the NPR office.
Ep.7 Mary Halvorson Quintet
Air Date: 2013-02-25
The guitarist brings a decidedly non-standard approach to jazz's standard practices.
Ep.8 The Lone Bellow
Air Date: 2013-03-04
The fast-rising Brooklyn trio sings beautiful, heartfelt, impeccably harmonized folk-pop songs.
Ep.9 Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
Air Date: 2013-03-11
Watch one of the best fiddlers on the planet and a subtle guitar master work their magic.
Ep.10 Efterklang
Air Date: 2013-04-08
The Danish band ransacks the NPR Music offices looking for sound-making material and new ideas.
Ep.11 Yo La Tengo
Air Date: 2013-04-15
To coincide with the release of the band's 13th album, Fade, Yo La Tengo performs an acoustic set.
Ep.12 Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu
Air Date: 2013-04-22
The duo's quietly energetic performance hangs over the the NPR Music offices like a soft mist.
Ep.13 Father Figures
Air Date: 2013-04-29
Zany, brainy and danceable, these guys' music mixes rock and jazz like King Crimson at its fiercest.
Ep.14 Nicola Benedetti
Air Date: 2013-05-06
Watch the violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet, soulful tendrils of sound.
Ep.15 Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale
Air Date: 2013-05-13
The veteran country players mix corny humor, musical merrymaking and timeless vocal harmonies.
Ep.16 Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Air Date: 2013-05-20
The 73-year-old Iranian icon unleashes torrents of swooping, soaring sound that elicit goosebumps.
Ep.17 Imani Winds
Air Date: 2013-05-29
Imani Winds' members shrink Igor Stravinsky down to size in a quintet take on The Rite of Spring.
Ep.18 OK Go
Air Date: 2013-06-03
OK Go helps us transport the Tiny Desk from NPR Music's old headquarters to our new facility.
Ep.19 The National
Air Date: 2013-06-10
Watch the band perform acoustic arrangements of four songs from its new album, Trouble Will Find Me.
Ep.20 NO BS! Brass Band
Air Date: 2013-06-15
An 11-piece brass band turns up the funk and flies the flag high for its native Richmond, Va.
Ep.21 Billy Bragg
Air Date: 2013-06-17
One of the world's finest folksingers channels the spirit of Woody Guthrie at the NPR Music offices.
Ep.22 Patty Griffin
Air Date: 2013-06-24
Watch the singer-songwriter and her band perform three songs from her fine new album, American Kid.
Ep.23 Maya Beiser
Air Date: 2013-06-29
A brilliant cellist with a stunning command of her instrument, Beiser performs at the NPR offices.
Ep.24 Laura Mvula
Air Date: 2013-07-01
The U.K. singer performs some of her most intimate material in a short set at the NPR Music offices.
Ep.25 Cheick Hamala Diabate
Air Date: 2013-07-06
The Malian musician and his band craft melodies and rhythms that cut across age and ethnicity.
Ep.26 Skinny Lister
Air Date: 2013-07-08
The rowdy English folk-punk band brings its barely controlled mayhem to the NPR Music offices.
Ep.27 Frank Turner
Air Date: 2013-07-13
Two men with unplugged instruments convey the bawdy rowdiness of a full band.
Ep.28 Alice Russell
Air Date: 2013-07-15
When the British singer performs, her emotionally fiery music just gets hotter and grittier.
Ep.29 Cheyenne Mize
Air Date: 2013-07-20
The singer, instrumentalist and music therapist plays slinky, forceful songs at NPR Music.
Ep.30 Guards
Air Date: 2013-07-22
Hear three sturdy pop songs from In Guards We Trust, performed live at the NPR Music offices.
Ep.31 Time For Three
Air Date: 2013-07-27
Hear the "classically trained garage band" perform with staggering technique and contagious energy.
Ep.32 Dana Falconberry
Air Date: 2013-07-29
Watch Falconberry and five bandmates perform three delicate songs from her recent album Leelanau.
Ep.33 Keaton Henson
Air Date: 2013-08-03
Henson's voice is so fragile and hushed, if you were 10 feet away from him you'd barely hear a peep.
Ep.34 Jim Guthrie
Air Date: 2013-08-10
Guthrie and his band drove 18 hours round-trip from Ontario to perform three songs for NPR Music.
Ep.35 Alpine
Air Date: 2013-08-12
The Australian sextet crafts busily impeccable, harmony-intensive pop music with a danceable sway.
Ep.36 Mother Falcon
Air Date: 2013-08-17
The 17-member chamber-rock collective uses its size in the service of great, snappy, stirring songs.
Ep.37 The Front Bottoms
Air Date: 2013-08-19
The community that's formed around The Front Bottoms speaks to the band's passion and compassion.
Ep.38 Buika
Air Date: 2013-08-26
Concha Buika's voice comes from Africa and the past. Watch her perform in the NPR Music offices.
Ep.39 Steve Gunn
Air Date: 2013-08-31
Watch Gunn's trio perform a set of hypnotic long-form jams that are perfect for taking it easy.
Ep.40 Baths
Air Date: 2013-09-04
Watch Baths' Will Wiesenfeld perform mysterious, textured electronic music in the NPR offices.
Ep.41 Bombino
Air Date: 2013-09-07
For our 300th Tiny Desk Concert, we showcase a Tuareg guitarist's fierce, hypnotic, alluring jams.
Ep.42 The 1975
Air Date: 2013-09-10
Performing solo, singer Matthew Healy doesn't hesitate to transform both his songs and himself.
Ep.43 Arturo O'Farrill
Air Date: 2013-09-14
With an eye on both the past and the future, O'Farrill has jazz and Afro-Cuban music in his DNA.
Ep.44 Shovels & Rope
Air Date: 2013-09-16
The husband-and-wife duo mixes rowdy folk-rock and rootsy ballads, with the help of a canine friend.
Ep.45 The Cristina Pato Trio
Air Date: 2013-09-21
A Galician bagpiper and her trio take Celtic sounds in an entirely wild and wonderful direction.
Ep.46 Hem
Air Date: 2013-09-28
Hem makes a homey, fireside kind of music, with songs that feel as if they've always been there.
Ep.47 Oliver 'Tuku' Mtukudzi
Air Date: 2013-09-30
The Zimbabwean legend performs songs from the mournful but celebratory Sarawoga for NPR Music.
Ep.48 Lawrence Brownlee
Air Date: 2013-10-05
The operatic tenor, acclaimed for his Rossini, circles back to his roots as a singer of spirituals.
Ep.49 Superchunk
Air Date: 2013-10-07
Watch the venerable band translate its electric sound to acoustic instruments in an intimate way.
Ep.50 Valerie June
Air Date: 2013-10-12
Short of seeing her live and in person, this is the best way to encounter June's heartfelt sound.
Ep.51 Okkervil River
Air Date: 2013-10-15
The band performs three songs from a record inspired by the childhood of singer Will Sheff.
Ep.52 Matt Ulery's Loom
Air Date: 2013-10-19
The bassist composes beautiful, unpretentious music for an unusual jazz band with accordion.
Ep.53 Daughter
Air Date: 2013-10-21
Pretty and melancholy, the Londoners' music conjures a perfect mix of gloom, desire and hostility.
Ep.54 Typhoon
Air Date: 2013-10-26
The dozen members of this Portland, Ore. band crammed behind the Tiny Desk for a transcendent set.
Ep.55 San Fermin
Air Date: 2013-10-28
The orchestral folk-pop band's little song-worlds burst with ambition, talent and extreme joy.
Ep.56 Neko Case
Air Date: 2013-10-31
Watch a Halloween Tiny Desk Concert in which Case performs with Kelly Hogan and Eric Bachmann.
Ep.57 Ashley Monroe
Air Date: 2013-11-03
This three-song set in the NPR Music offices captures a nice cross-section of Monroe's appeal.
Ep.58 Gary Burton
Air Date: 2013-11-09
The jazz vibraphone pioneer is 70 now, but that hasn't slowed his flying four-mallet technique.
Ep.59 Debashish Bhattacharya
Air Date: 2013-11-12
Bhattacharya draws on North Indian classical music, but blues also pours out of his stunning work.
Ep.60 John Legend
Air Date: 2013-11-16
The soul singer retains the easygoing grace of a performer fit for any stage — even a tiny one.
Ep.61 Waxahatchee
Air Date: 2013-11-23
This is Katie Crutchfield as Waxahatchee, playing intimate music for an intimate setting.
Ep.62 Kronos Quartet
Air Date: 2013-11-25
The intrepid champions of new music bring a lullaby, rare blues and a work by Bryce Dessner to NPR.
Ep.63 The Dismemberment Plan
Air Date: 2013-12-02
The band exudes playfulness and wry charm throughout these three songs from Uncanney Valley.
Ep.64 Sarah Jarosz
Air Date: 2013-12-07
Jarosz and her small backing band craft a careful mix of technical proficiency and poppy warmth.
Ep.65 Dessa
Air Date: 2013-12-09
The whip-smart rapper, singer, poet and songwriter performs three tracks from Parts of Speech.
Ep.66 Christine Salem
Air Date: 2013-12-14
Salem sings work songs and chants from the maloya tradition on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
Ep.67 La Santa Cecilia
Air Date: 2013-12-16
The video here provides just a hint of the L.A. band's dynamic live shows, albeit a spectacular one.
Ep.68 Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Air Date: 2013-12-21
The hot and historic New Orleans band brings a tuba-wielding Santa and some original holiday cheer.