Favorite Tiny Desk Sets of 2020
By: Donney Rose
Tags: Self Care, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiny Desk, Pandemic, NPR

5.) Kirby

I came across Kirby’s Tiny Desk set by way of my wife who came across it by way of her newfound fandom of the singer Lucky Daye. Kirby’s set was characteristic of the era we’re in as it was one of the first of the Tiny Desk (At Home) socially distant series of performances.

Kirby’s a sweet soulful songstress based out of Memphis. She is just beginning to break ground as a solo artist but has been writing behind the scenes for prominent artists for a few years. Her set featured an acoustic guitarist and guest appearance from Lucky Daye. Her vibrant yellow background and outfit, along with her twanged soaring vocals provided a relaxing yet eccentric sensory experience that made the dog days of social distancing feel a bit more bearable.

Favorite song from the set: “Apple”.

4.) Lucky Daye

I’m not gonna lie, I had a hard time giving Lucky his props at first because my wife had developed a musical crush on him, and I grew tired of her playing his album Painted real quick lol. But ultimately I could not front on dude’s talent and it was good to see a fresh face from my home state (Louisiana) began to get his shine from industry heavyweights and a growing fanbase.

Lucky, née David Brown, initially went through the “American Idol” circuit to get his foot in the industry door. Idol didn’t work out in his favor, so he went back to his hometown of New Orleans and kept working on his craft, re-emerging as Lucky Daye, possessing a hip hop swagger to complement his exceptional vocal abilities.

Lucky’s Tiny Desk set happened in a pre-pandemic world (2019). Backed by his album’s producer D’Mile and a full band (featuring an AMAZING horn section), Lucky rocked a dope three-song set that and had the audience in the palm of his hands.

My wife watched his set an innumerable amount of times, and after the 100th time or so I was like yeah, the kid got somethin

Favorite song from the set: “Roll Some Mo”

3.) Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq is easily one of the best musicians of my generation. He is also one of the most under-appreciated. Saadiq has nearly four decades under his belt professionally, beginning with his origins with R&B/soul/funk supergroup, Tony! Toni! Toné! As a writer, producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist he is likely one of your favorite’s favorite. Real musicians respect Saadiq and music-lovers around the world pay homage to his genius.

Saadiq played an eclectic Tiny Desk set that was published in December 2019. As one of the last run of live Tiny Desk sets before COVID, Saadiq gave a funky mixture of classics and newer material. He brought out Lucky Daye to rock a few joints, including a version of “You Should Be Here”, a collaboration originally performed by Saadiq and D’Angelo.

Early in the set Saadiq referenced an earlier appearance he made on Tiny Desk that, in his opinion, did not receive the same level of enthusiasm as the December 2019 set.

He came back with a vengeance and gave the desk one of its flyest final live sets before things shut down.

Favorite song from the set: “You Should Be Here”.

2.) Daniel Caesar feat. H.E.R.

H.E.R. is hands-down my favorite millennial-aged artist. She’s a superbly gifted vocalist, a dope songwriter and a talented instrumentalist. I first really got into H.E.R. through the solo Tiny Desk set she rocked in 2018. I had been hearing about her genius well before then, but after watching her perform “Hard Place” and “Focus on Me” during that set at the desk, I was all in.

This year I discovered the Tiny Desk performance she had with another millennial R&B/soul star, Daniel Caesar during his solo set. The duo’s performance of their song “Best Part” was a brilliant closer to Caesar’s set as the two young crooners serenaded each other with a soulfulness that felt well beyond their mid-20s identity.

The cool thing about finding this performance was that it allowed me to go back in time a year earlier to seeing them perform it live, both at the 2019 Essence Festival and 2019 Roots Picnic during H.E.R’s sets. I imagined what it was like for older folks to watch Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell sing sweetly to each other while watching the melodic alchemy between H.E.R. and Daniel Caesar.

His set was dope in general, but their collab was truly the best part.

Favorite song of the set: clearly, you shouldn’t have to guess.

1.) Allen Stone

I clearly remember how I came across Allen Stone’s Tiny Desk set. I was scrolling Instagram and NPR Music had posted a snippet of a long stringy-haired white dude with a guitar singing with a Black woman, a Latina woman and a white woman singing backup. I immediately had to find out what the hell was happening.

I turned the volume up on my phone and heard “Brown Eyed Lover” for the first time. After a few seconds of listening I thumb-hustled over to the Tiny Desk channel to hear the full set and was floored.

Stone’s set began with “American Privilege”, a self-reflective joint where he acknowledges the spoils of whiteness and trappings of capitalism. His next three songs, “Give You Blue”, “Brown Eyed Lover” and “Consider Me”, were all well-crafted, soulful odes to his wife and Stoned gushed about being head-over-heels in love with her between each tune.

What I appreciated about Stone’s Tiny Desk set and what I’ve continued to appreciate about him since I started following him is that even though his music could be labeled “blue-eyed soul” by some, he does not try to culturally costume as a Black man in white skin.

He is legitimately a goofy white dude with a sharp sense of humor and deep appreciation of music. Stone is not trying to convince you that he can greet you with a soul brotha dap or ebonic-laced colloquialisms.

He’s very much a white guy through and through that can sing his ass off.

But the main reason I stuck with following him after discovering him was his response to the racial reckoning the nation was undergoing after George Floyd was killed. He didn’t try to overdo it with faux ally sentiments. He simply took to his Instagram, acknowledged the influence Black music and Black artists had on his artistry and honored the humanity of Black folks at a time where him being complicit would have been a dealbreaker for me.

I wasn’t looking for a Tim Wise-style dissertation on whiteness from him. I simply hoped that the few white entertainers that I rocked with would take a position on the right side of history that was true to who they were.

He did that, even though it wasn’t what I needed from him. I needed to discover the dopeness of his set as something to come back to when I wanted to unplug from the madness of the day.

That was the win from my discovery.

Favorite song from the set: “Brown Eyed Lover”