Tiny Desk

The Mekons Prove Alt-Country Punk Is Still The Best Soundtrack For Chaos at NPR’s Tiny Desk

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The enduring power of The Mekons is the band’s nearly 50-year commitment to doing things their own way, creating a glorious snaggled-toothed sneer mixed with the most bittersweet sentimentality.

This timeless punk rock attitude is the perfect soundtrack for moments when everything feels completely fraught, and The Mekons brought that energy straight to the Tiny Desk. The band immediately launched listeners back four decades, opening with the joyous and desperate “Last Dance,” a standout from their influential 1985 album ‘Fear and Whiskey’. This track is about falling in love during wartime, and its decades-old themes feel acutely relevant today. The middle of the set featured two phenomenal cuts from this year’s album ‘Horror’, starting with “War Economy,” which has that post-punk throwback energy reminiscent of the days when The Mekons borrowed Gang of Four’s instruments. They followed that with “Sanctuary,” where the always-steadying violin player Susie Honeyman takes a rare vocal lead, her gentle sing-songy voice providing an elegy-like wisp in the musical wind. The performance closed with another classic from ‘Fear and Whiskey’, the down-but-not-defeated barn burner “Hard to Be Human Again,” a song that demands to be sung loudly alongside comrades who have also been punched and beaten by life.

Source: The Mekons Prove Alt-Country Punk Is Still The Best Soundtrack For Chaos at NPR’s Tiny Desk – That Eric Alper

Tiny Desk Concert with Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman

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The Hobbledehoy attended a short but wonderful performance by Nora Brown & Stephanie Coleman at last year’s Jack Kerouac Festival which takes place annually in Lowell, Massachusetts. We’re thrilled to see Nora and Stephanie featured on NPR’s terrific “Tiny Desk” program.

“There’s a sweet moment between songs when Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman reminisce about their love for traditional banjo and fiddle tunes. Speaking about “Across the Rocky Mountain,” banjo picker Nora Brown says she first heard the song when she was about 10 or 11. That puts a grin on fiddler Stephanie Coleman’s face, as she chimes in to say, “I had the same experience; we both were middle schoolers who were obsessed with old banjo players.” It’s this passion that these two have for traditional tunes that sparks me as a listener, and the audiences that come to see them. It’s a body of work that’s been handed down from player to player for centuries.”

– Bob Boilen

TINY DESK SET LIST

  • “Across the Rocky Mountain”/”The Old Blue Bonnet”
  • “Lady of the Lake”
  • “Copper Kettle”

As for the Kerouac Festival – it takes place annually in October featuring panel discussions, readings, jazz and folk music, films, open mike events, as high poetry competition, book signings, and more.

Kerouac fans and scholars from across the United States and around the world travel to Lowell for the festival. Writers, musicians, and scholars who have participated over the years include Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Creeley, David Amram, Gregory Corso, Anne Waldman, Patti Smith, Michael McClure, and Ray Mazarek.

Shirley Collins: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

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By Bob Boilen | November 10, 2020 | Source: NPR

Shirley Collins is a legend — a humble one, but undoubtedly a transformative voice in traditional folk music. It’s truly a miracle to hear her voice at this Tiny Desk (home) concert.

At 85, Shirley Collins is seated in the living room of her cottage in Lewes, East Sussex, accompanied by guitarist Ian Kearey. Her life story took the sort of twists you hear in the songs she sings, in her case, a broken heart, a painful divorce, and the loss of her voice. For 30 years, she couldn’t sing. Now, here she is playing songs from Heart’s Ease, only the second album she’s made in the past 40 years. You hear her sing of a young sailor boy who saves his ship from robbers and is promised by his captain both gold and his daughter’s hand in marriage. The lad sinks the robber’s boat, only to be left to drown by that very same captain.

These unimaginable tales and that unadorned voice have influenced both British and American folk music since the 1960s, from Fairport Convention’s Sandy Denny to The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy.

These tales of woe and whimsy are as timeless as Shirley Collins.

SET LIST
“The Merry Golden Tree”
“Sweet Greens and Blues”
“Wondrous Love”
“Tell Me True”
“Old Johnny Buckle”

MUSICIANS Shirley Collins: vocals Ian Keary: guitar CREDITS Video By: Grant Gee, Karen Johnston Audio By: Alfie Gee

TINY DESK TEAM Producer: Bob Boilen Video Producer: Morgan Noelle Smith Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin Associate Producer: Bobby Carter Tiny Production Team: Kara Frame, Maia Stern Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann