Seasons & episodes
S5 · E39Kelly Hogan 2012-06-04
The unflappable singer performs three songs with seeming effortlessness and easygoing charm.
S5 · E40Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom 2012-06-07
The drummer dedicates tunes to her friends, including her first teacher — a "sometimes great guy."
S5 · E41Daniel Johnston 2012-06-11
Watch three songs by a troubled soul with a talent for writing honest, disarmingly direct music.
S5 · E42Glen Hansard 2012-06-17
Hansard flexes his neck muscles a bit as he performs new songs and deep cuts at the NPR offices.
S5 · E43Mariachi El Bronx 2012-06-21
The band plays with just the right mixture of passion and pathos in a fun set at the NPR offices.
S5 · E44Reggie Watts 2012-06-25
The comedian and musician performs spontaneous improvisations full of killer grooves and humor.
S5 · E45Exitmusic 2012-07-02
The band plays a beautifully buzzing, nuanced set, marked by gorgeous grace and stirring melodies.
S5 · E46Brandi Carlile 2012-07-09
At the NPR offices, Carlile and her band sing from-the-gut songs about messy lives, loudly lived.
S5 · E47Laura Marling 2012-07-12
Two songs from A Creature I Don't Know bookend a gorgeous new, unreleased song called "Once."
S5 · E48Souad Massi 2012-07-15
A soulful yet steely singer-songwriter from Algeria charts her own course in these four songs.
S5 · E49The Milk Carton Kids 2012-07-16
Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale sing sweet but intricate folk-pop songs in the NPR offices.
S5 · E50Janet Feder 2012-07-22
Feder marries classical and folk techniques with otherworldly guitar textures and sounds.
S5 · E51The Walkmen 2012-07-29
The band makes the Tiny Desk accommodate its booming sound rather than the other way around.
S5 · E52Beth Orton 2012-08-06
Known for mixing folk and electronics, Orton unveils three new songs with just an acoustic guitar.
S5 · E53The Zombies 2012-08-12
Two surviving members of the band still have the same chemistry here in a stripped-down performance.
S5 · E54Rufus Wainwright 2012-08-20
By the middle of Wainwright's final song, "Montauk," few dry eyes remained in the NPR offices.
S5 · E55Renaud Garcia-Fons 2012-08-27
Watch the renowned double bassist thump, strum and loop his way through three mesmerizing songs.
S5 · E56Avi Avital 2012-09-10
Avital's mandolin sings with the sounds of Ernest Bloch and a raucous Bulgarian folk tune.
S5 · E57Amanda Palmer And The Grand Theft Orchestra 2012-09-17
These songs' fervor is the product of a singer armed with intensity and musicians who can match it.
S5 · E58Yva Las Vegass 2012-09-24
Watch Las Vegass bring a punk aesthetic to Venezuelan folk music with a cuatro at the NPR offices.
S5 · E59Kat Edmonson 2012-10-01
Hearing the 29-year-old singer makes it virtually impossible to do anything but stop and listen.
S5 · E60Antibalas 2012-10-04
It's one thing for 11 musicians to make a big sound, but what stands out is Antibalas' subtlety.
S5 · E61Spirit Family Reunion 2012-10-08
The group plays fiddle, banjo, guitar and washboard, all gathered around a single microphone.
S5 · E62Dirty Three 2012-10-15
The band unleashes a gorgeous flurry of shambolic rumbling, prolific hairiness and dramatic yelling.