I've deliberately chosen to post about Joan Shelley's performance immediately after featuring IDLES because I think the difference in style and volume between the two illustrates perfectly the brilliant eclecticism and genre-skipping nature of Tiny Desk. There is no snobbery, no judgement, no pigeon-holing here. Just a clear love of great music, and the desire to give talented artists of all types, a platform. I love that.
Back to Joan Shelley - her performance was recorded back in September 2015. It's her and her guitar partner Nathan Salsburg, and their guitars. And it's all so perfectly beautiful. One of those performances you come back to time and time again, when you need soothing, when you need an escape, or just for no reason other than to get lost in the music. Just read some of the comments on the YouTube link below to see how this touches people.
Again, the sound engineering is top notch (I've already gone on about that so won't exhaust that line again) - it's warm and clear, allowing the sounds from the two intertwining finger-picked guitars to feature proudly, overlaid with Joan's relaxed and natural vocals.
There are three songs featured. I think the first, Easy Now, is my favourite (although that's a hard choice to make). The choice of some of the progressions is masterful - there are those moments of musical surprise which make you sit up and gasp slightly. It's all a refreshing breeze of a song.
The only problem with this performance is that I weep slightly when it's all over after only 12 minutes. But better 12 minutes of musical purity than ... well just about anything else.
I hope you enjoy this as I have: