Bob Boilen

Nickel Creek was made to sing and play around a single microphone, so a Tiny Desk Concert seemed inevitable. All it took was a reunion tour — celebrating 25 years of Nickel Creek — to make it happen.

All three of the band's remarkably talented core members have been ...

Rodrigo Amarante has made the year's tenderest record. Cavalo is sonically rich and spare at the same time: Every instrument breathes and every sound blends, yet every moment is distinct. At Cavalo's core are heartfelt songs and Amarante's sweet, smoky voice.

Amarante is from Rio de Janeiro, and these ...

As the end of summer nears, here's one more bouncy tune to carry you into fall. "Black Lemon," by Generationals, two former high school buddies Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer, mixes marimba-based jolliness and lyrics tinged with darkness. It looks at life's ties that bind and searches for ways to ...

Shark attacks, poison, swords, lightsabers, a stake to the heart; all are more desirable than not having the love of your life. In this video for "Good and Ready," a boy and his three friends act out numerous, creative scenarios in which a person might perish, as Anthony D'Amato (along ...

At 82, legendary guitarist Ernest Ranglin still plays the ska, reggae and jazz that he's championed and helped perfect for more than half a century. Ranglin was a key figure in shaping the sounds of ska — influenced by New Orleans jazz and R&B — in Jamaica in the ...

This is debut music from the ethereal performer Emma Ruth Rundle. The video for "Arms I Know So Well" is a beautiful portrayal of solitude and living with one's self, directed by Thomas McMahan. "Arms I Know So Well" is from her first album, called Some Heavy Ocean. She and ...

Look! It's a band! It's a screen-printing project! No, it's Sleepy Kitty! Watch this St. Louis duo make art punk fun and a very inky animation for the song "Don't You Start," cut two from Sleepy Kitty's 2014 album, Projection Room.

As is obvious from that album title and from ...

Bob Mould came alone, except for his 1987 Lake Placid Blue Fender Stratocaster. We provided the Epiphone Blues Custom 30 amp, which he promptly cranked. Needless to say, he announced his own Tiny Desk Concert without using the paging system.

Mould isn't a shy man — his power chords ...

As its name suggests, Tweedy is a new band featuring Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and his 18-year-old son and drummer Spencer. Tweedy recently recorded an album together, out Sept. 23, titled Sukierae. (It's pronounced sue-key-ray.)

At the Newport Folk Festival a couple weeks ago, Tweedy and some of ...

There's a decent chance you're about to discover your favorite new band. Based in San Francisco and led by Liam McCormick, The Family Crest builds its songs from a combination of infectious enthusiasm and powerful talent. The group owes its huge sound not just to its seven members, but to ...

My first time seeing this Norwegian band was at a fairly soulless convention center in Austin, Texas. They transformed that big, open room into an intimate affair. So having them perform at the Tiny Desk, an already intimate space, was a thrill. It was also the first appearance of a ...

The ocean serene, the sharks below: That's the contrast of noise and melody The Raveonettes do so well, and one you can hear on this song, "Killer In The Streets." The Danish duo are Sune Rose Wagner on guitar and vocals, along with Sharin Foo on bass, guitar ...

All Songs Considered features "The Voyager," the new album from Jenny Lewis, a singer known for complicated, emotional lyrics and vivid storytelling. It's part of NPR Music's "First Listen" series.

This is the second time Hamilton Leithauser has graced the Tiny Desk. Two summers ago, he and his band The Walkmen played a powerful set of songs from their final album for now, Heaven. The Walkmen announced an indefinite hiatus toward the end of 2013, and since ...

If you've not heard of Benjamin Booker yet, get ready. He's a fiery 22-year-old guitar player from New Orleans about to hit the road with Jack White. This tune, "Have You Seen My Son," is about evangelical father praying for his son's soul. The video, directed by Rick Alverson, was ...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce on Monday that he is ordering 1,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. border with Mexico, according to reports from The Monitor and The Houston Chronicle.

The Monitor, a south Texas newspaper, reports that it received a memo that outlined ...

Fantasize your ideal love. With that in mind, write the most gentle, serene love song. I imagine that Hollie Fullbrook, a.k.a. Tiny Ruins, did that here. The song, "Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens," is on a lovely album by Tiny Ruins called Brightly Painted One, and the ...

This slow-building love story is sketched out with tender falsetto touched by electronics and guitar. Novo Amor is the moniker of Welsh singer Ali Lacey; Ed Tullett is an English electronic artist. "Faux" by Novo Amor & Ed Tullett is for sale here.

Truth be told, Holly Williams brought me and many of my hardened colleagues to tears. The singer-songwriter has a magnificent way with words and phrasing, not to mention a country-music lineage that fills her with pride and guides her poignancy and subject matter.

Country is in her blood: As ...