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Laura Gibson: Tiny Desk Concert

In a perfect world, there'd be no crowded bar shows or super-sized arena concerts. Musicians would come to your home for a private performance, or they'd show up at your office and play at your desk, easing you through the workday.

That's what All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen and NPR Music producer Stephen Thompson were thinking after they tried to catch a Laura Gibson show earlier this year in Austin, Tex. Gibson, a folksinger from Portland, Ore., has a really quiet voice — her gentle guitar strumming isn't much louder — so it was nearly impossible to hear over a blathering bar crowd.

And so begins what we hope will be a recurring series at NPR Music: "Tiny Desk Concerts."

An office is an unlikely stage for a live concert, but Gibson was a good sport when we asked her to play a few songs at Bob's desk. She drew a cozy group of curious NPR employees as she worked through a handful of tenderhearted songs: two of them unreleased and two of them from her full-length debut, If You Come to Greet Me.

Set List

  • "Hands in Pockets"
  • "A Good Word, An Honest Man"
  • "Come by Storm"
  • "Night Watch"
  • Credits

    Cameras and production by Bob Boilen and Frannie Kelley

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.