We presented our final concert of the Summerfest series on July 17th and now is the time to plan for the coming season, as we await the return of our musicians in September. In this gap between the orchestra’s performances, I’ll step outside of the Classical music world to write this installation of our Music of the Moment blog. This is a recurring segment of the North Carolina Symphony blog where various members of our artistic team post about some of the music that is on our minds lately.

If you are reading this, you are probably sitting in front of a glowing computer screen, so go ahead and follow the link below and hit play when the page loads (and be sure to click on the button at the bottom right-hand corner of the video screen so that you can view it in full-screen mode.) Then, come back and keep reading.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106471639

How about that voice? He’s mesmerizing, no? Bill Callahan’s entire concert here is charming, albeit in sort of a dark way, but the tune that made me fall in love is “Too Many Birds”, the final one in the set. (Bill Callahan used to put out records under the name Smog and I listened to those in college, but I didn’t realize that he was releasing anything under his own name until my husband, Bradley, played this for me one night a few weeks ago. Thanks, B!)

I wanted to post something here to give Bill Callahan a mention in our Music of the Moment blog series, but I also wanted to draw your attention to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. For me, there are few better ways to spend a lunch break than to stay put in the office and watch one of these concerts (and be instantly transported far from whatever spreadsheets lie lurking a mere window away.) It’s surprising to hear what glorious sounds these artists can craft in such a lo-fi setting, and while crammed into the DC offices of NPR. You are sure to find listed among the Tiny Desk Concert archives a musician you already love and, better still, someone new who will absolutely transfix you in this intimate setting and then propel you to iTunes or, if you’re lucky enough to still have one, your local record store to buy a new album.

Here’s a little compilation of some of the Tiny Desk Concerts that I would recommend whole-heartedly:

Zuill Bailey
Zuill is a friend of the North Carolina Symphony and one of our guest artists from prior seasons – he’ll join us again, this time as part of the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio, on the Classical series in September.

Kurt Wagner
Kurt Wagner is the lead singer of the band Lambchop. I’ve been a fan of theirs for years and they are in great company on the North Carolina label Merge Records.

Raphael Saadiq
If you crave beautifully constructed and sleek, but very sweetly delivered, modern soul music, Raphael Saadiq is your man. This is one of my favorites from the site – the duo guitars just kill me.

K’naan
I had not heard of K’naan until I came across his Tiny Desk Concert and he has totally stolen my heart with his song, “Fatima.” Listen to it. Right now. Seriously.

Tom Jones
At 29, I suppose I might be a bit too young to have a big place in my heart for Mr. Jones, but honestly, I couldn’t resist him once I started listening to this performance and it just goes to show you the broad spectrum that Bob Boilen, the curator of this concert series (and host of All Songs Considered) has captured.

Enjoy! And, please post your comments here about which Tiny Desk Concert is your favorite.