Origin stories are always told several different ways. Just ask anyone who reads comic books or watches the superhero movies (and endless reboots) they're based on. It's all a matter of perspective. The history of Tiny Desk has been told via YouTube breakdowns, newspaper profiles, online listicles and lengthy podcast conversations — sometimes with the NPR Music staffers who were there at the beginning, but often by a dedicated and growing fanbase who love this concert series.
Tiny Desk Radio, heard only on public radio stations across the U.S., shares the concerts and stories about the artists whom we ask to make music like they never have before. In the very first episode, we tell our own Tiny Desk origin story with a bit of history and something of a "greatest hits" montage. And if you click the audio button on this page, you'll hear an exclusive, extended version of what we broadcast, featuring Tiny Desk clips of Chaka Khan, Chris Stapleton, Sesame Street, Natalia Lafourcade, Wilco, Yo-Yo Ma and one of Mac Miller's final performances.
Let's get one thing straight: Tiny Desk takes place behind a real desk, in a real office, in broad daylight, in Washington, D.C. NPR Music staff are often filing stories, taking meetings and editing podcasts just within earshot of the performance space. (I should know, my desk was directly across from the Tiny Desk's original location downtown; now, the Tiny Desk happens behind my head.) The concept was imagined by Bob Boilen and Stephen Thompson in 2008 when they were annoyed they couldn't hear a quiet singer-songwriter in a noisy bar at a music festival, joked to the artist that she should play a show in our office… and then she called them on their bluff. We really didn't know what we were doing or what it would be, but we filmed Laura Gibson performing behind Boilen's desk, posted the video online and then just kept going.
But after an inciting incident, a story ignites. When T-Pain's concert went viral in 2014 for sangin' without AutoTune, we suddenly realized the true purpose of Tiny Desk — that our space encourages artists to reimagine their music. For someone like Taylor Swift, that meant playing her songs the way she originally wrote them: on guitar or piano. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, the Argentine pop duo, embraced the audio limitations with special Tiny Desk arrangements. IDLES somehow maintained its raucous live show, just without the benefit of monitors.
More than 1,200 artists have come to our corner of NPR headquarters to take the Tiny Desk challenge, which has always been a creative collaboration with NPR Music producers, audio technicians and videographers. Our aim and hope with Tiny Desk Radio is to take NPR listeners behind the scenes of those collaborations, where the unexpected is a given.
Tiny Desk Radio is only available to hear on public radio stations. Check the listings of your public radio station and listen to the sample at the top of this page.
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