KevOnStage's 5 Favorite Tiny Desk Concerts

By KevOnStage

Published April 16, 2021 at 7:00 AM EDT

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, comedian and actor KevOnStage picks his five favorites.

Between stand-up comedy and a massive social media presence, Kevin Fredericks, aka KevOnStage, has consistently found ways to one-up himself. He seamlessly pivoted and merged both worlds, creating and hosting the "Keep Your Distance" comedy show live streams while continuing to churn out hilarious viral bits. If that isn't enough to keep him busy, he spends a considerable amount of time waving the Tiny Desk flag for his millions of followers: issuing calls to action when he sees his favorite artist at the Desk and even creating his own best-of lists on Twitter. We wanted to make this official, so we asked him to create his very own Tiny Desk Playlist. —Bobby Carter

So I have a crazy opportunity to put you on some of my favorite Tiny Desks. I must let you know that I am an avid Tiny Desker (do we have an official name?) Anyway, lets begin:

• Tank And The Bangas: What I like most about Tiny Desk is the introduction to artists I wasn't familiar with. Tank And The Bangas is my favorite Tiny Desk of all time. I can't quite describe Tank And The Bangas; it's more of an experience than a performance. It's best described as beautiful musical theater. Tank and Jelly are just perfect. It's light and jokes and then dark and reflective. Did I cry? Maybe.

• Tobe Nwigwe: This one is very important, because Tobe is a friend of mine and watching your friend ascend all the way to Tiny Desk by remaining themselves was a sight to behold. I also love that Tobe used his Tiny Desk to showcase his whole group. He chose songs that allowed each member to share the light for a moment. That was BOSS.

I'm gonna use the rest of my time to show you people I love who don't have as many views as the others. These artists all have under a million views, which was a lot harder to choose than I realized. A lot of my favorites have more than a million, but we press on.

• Alex Isley: This is one of the Tiny Desk (home) concerts that I love. Alex Isley's voice is light. If a dove could sing, that's how it would sound. Her voice is like the combo of sunshine and a cool breeze. It's just light but soulful and full. Does that make sense? I want to start a record label and sign Alex.

• Conway The Machine: Admittedly I hadn't listened to any of Griselda before this. Conway's Tiny Desk told me so many stories about his life, upbringing, love and loss. I can't think of a rap song that was as vulnerable as "The Cow." He really laid it all out there and lyrically was so dope. Storytelling rap is my favorite by far and man, Conway took me along for a ride.

• Avery*Sunshine: Avery just makes feel good music. Her music is like a church mother's hug when you cried at the altar for an hour after church. After that hug you just feel good. That's how you feel after listening to Avery*Sunshine's music.

Tiny Desks In This Playlist

• Tank And The Bangas
• Tobe Nwigwe
• Alex Isley
• Conway The Machine
• Avery*Sunshine