Kara Frame | December 10, 2025 It's rare these days for an artist to ask for fewer microphones, but after warming up in our space, Billy Strings did just that. Surrounded by his band, the bluegrass virtuoso brings back the spirit of Tiny Desk's early days. We capture, in his own words, "the way these instruments are meant to sound."
"We've been lucky to play a lot of cool venues," Strings says, pausing to reflect. "But this one's different. It has that same soul to it because — I've seen so many amazing performances that happened right here and I kind of believe that love and spirit kind of soaks into this environment, so just standing here feels like a special thing."
Strings found his roots in bluegrass from his dad. Since then, he's managed to expand the genre to new audiences, amassing a following of super fans — self-proclaimed "billy goats" — that sometimes schedule their lives around his tour. Once you meet Strings, it's not hard to understand why: He's a humble musician and a sorcerer of his craft, wielding a guitar as if it's a part of him.
SET LIST "Red Daisy" "My Alice" "Malfunction Junction" "Gild the Lily"
MUSICIANS Billy Strings: vocals, guitar Alex Hargreaves: fiddle Billy Failing: banjo, background vocals Royal Masat: bass, background vocals Jarrod Walker: mandolin, background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM Producer: Kara Frame Director/Editor: Maia Stern Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault Production Assistants: Dora Levite, Dhanika Pineda Photographer: Michael Zamora Series Editor: Lars Gotrich Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed Executive Director: Sonali Mehta Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
#billystrings #nprmusic #tinydesk
Support for NPR Music comes from Moises. A platform created by musicians, for musicians and used by 70 million artists worldwide – to learn, create, and collaborate. Available for download.
