For Tiny Desk Playlists, we ask musicians, creators and folks we admire to choose the Tiny Desk concerts they've come to love. For this edition, we asked actor, humorist and author Nick Offerman to pick his favorites.
Nick Offerman has a natural talent for making us laugh, listen, cry, think and furrow our brows all at the same time. Most notable in his role as Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, Offerman has also been hard at work authoring multiple books and running his own woodshop in Los Angeles. Offerman has a new book out now about his adventures outside exploring America. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play offers an inside scoop on Offerman's reflection of our country, its land and how we've chosen to use it. Since he's a music lover himself, we wanted to hear about which Tiny Desk concerts Offerman has been enjoying lately. —Maia Stern
• Tweedy — The amount of lush sound that Jeff and Spencer wring out of a four-piece drum kit, a Kel Kroydon acoustic and a single microphone is a testament to the family talent — or superpower, rather — for manifesting as a joyful jukebox that is also not short on tenderness. These handsome sweethearts make beautiful music.
• Laurie Anderson — She is, for me, a cornerstone of panache and beautiful genius and she's a paragon of showmanship — or show-person-ship. It's complicated enough. It's simple enough. It's crazy enough. It's beautiful enough. It's stupid enough. Laurie, in your own puckish words, "Thanks for all the presents."
• John Prine — Goddammit I miss him so much. His guitar, his romance, his sense of humor. Nobody's songs can make me cry like John Prine's.
• Gaby Moreno — I mean, here you may please indulge in two people (with guitarist Adam Levy) who are simply super good at music. Moreno's vocal chops in two tongues will knock you on your culo. Wait for their final jam, it's transcendent. (Fun fact: Gaby Moreno and Vincent Jones composed the theme song for Parks & Recreation.)
• The Haden Triplets — Petra, Rachel and Tanya exhibit the musical talent and élan that have made them enthusiastically despised for decades by lovers of mediocrity. Everybody has their least favorite, but mine is Petra, for failing to not blow me away every time. The casual delivery of their three-part ear candy feels like somebody just set out a surprisingly delicious cake that somehow also has a key lime pie and a slab of ribs inside it.
Tiny Desks In This Playlist
• Tweedy
• Laurie Anderson
• John Prine
• Gaby Moreno
• The Haden Triplets
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.