Every year, NPR Music participates in the SXSW music festival, whether it's curating a stage or simply attending hundreds of shows at the annual event in Austin, Texas. Last year, the festival was canceled due to the pandemic, but it returned this March as an online festival. We programmed a 'stage' of Tiny Desk (home) concerts and presented them on the final day of the festival. Now, we present to you Tiny Desk Meets SXSW: four videos filmed in various locations, all of them full of surprises.
Bobby Carter | April 7, 2021 DUCKWRTH decided to do something special for Tiny Desk Meets SXSW: brand new music. "Welcome to my Tiny Desk," he says. "We are gonna play some new songs for y'all if that's OK. Y'all ain't got no choice!"
The dynamic R&B singer proceeded to debut two exclusives: a slow jam titled "make u go," which he dedicates to the "lovers and freaks," and the upbeat "Birthday Suit," which KCRW astutely compared to Estelle's "American Boy."
The new material wasn't the only thing that made this Tiny Desk such a treat. For this funky and flamboyant performance, DUCKWRTH dressed his backing band entirely in white and switched up the lighting for each song so that the hue matched the mood he was laying down.
DUCKWRTH has long been a creative soul. He spoke with NPR in 2019 about growing up in a Pentecostal household in South Central Los Angeles, and how those two worlds helped shape his journeys between R&B and West Coast G-funk.
SET LIST "Kiss U Right Now" "make u go" "Birthday Suit" "Super Good"
MUSICIANS DUCKWRTH: vocals Justin "Jhawk" Hawkins: guitar Darryl Staves Jr.: drums Solomon "Solo" Smith: bass Devin Smith: keys Amber Olivia Kiner: vocals Olivia Walker: vocals
CREDITS Video: BT Studios, Jonathan Salmon, Lopes Audio: Lucas Palmieri Mixed by: Josh Rogosin Creative Director - Abdi Ibrahim Director of Photography - Adam Linssen Special Thanks: Beehive Studios
TINY DESK TEAM Producer: Bobby Carter Video Producer: Maia Stern Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin Associate Producer: Bobby Carter Tiny Production Team: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
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