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Laura Stevenson: Tiny Desk Concert

By Bob Boilen,
Stephen Thompson
Published February 14, 2020 at 5:00 AM EST

It was supposed to be so simple. Laura Stevenson, a singer-songwriter whose new material radiates warm intensity, would come in and knock us out with an intimate acoustic solo set performed behind Bob Boilen's desk. So I came to Bob with the idea, expecting a fast-track to the light-lift Laura Stevenson Tiny Desk concert of our dreams.

But Bob is nothing if not a pesky dreamer — a man who lives his life in pursuit of beauty and the creation of hard work for other people — so he suggested a wrinkle. What if we commissioned string arrangements for three songs from Stevenson's newest album, The Big Freeze?

So arranger Amy Domingues, who doubles as a marvelous D.C.-area cellist, dreamed up some charts and gathered a small ensemble (herself and violinists Shelley Matthews and Winston Yu) for accompaniment so gorgeous, Stevenson couldn't stop remarking on it between songs. When the singer hit the line in "Living Room, NY" about how "It's a little stuffy in here," it was hard not to feel like the room had gotten a little dusty, too.

If the afternoon weren't already heartwarmingly swoony enough — Stevenson had brought a special guest to the set, performing while six months pregnant — we also got to witness what's almost definitely the first-ever Tiny Desk marriage proposal. Shortly after Stevenson's set had ended, Jonathan Zember got down on one knee as unobtrusively as possible and proposed to his girlfriend, Dena Rapoport; the two were attending the show as guests of an NPR staffer, and he figured it'd be a memorable spot for their big moment.

Chatting them up afterward, I told Jonathan that I'd appreciated how subtly he'd pulled off the ring reveal — quietly enough to give Dena the opportunity to say no if so inclined. She looked genuinely surprised by the suggestion and replied, "Honestly, the thought never crossed my mind."

SET LIST

  • "Lay Back, Arms Out"

  • "Living Room, NY"

  • "Dermatillomania"

    • MUSICIANS

    Laura Stevenson: vocals, guitar; Amy Domingues: cello; Winston Yu: violin; Shelley Matthews: violin

    CREDITS

    Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Noelle Smith, Kara Frame; Creative director: Bob Boilen; Audio engineers: Josh Rogosin, Natasha Branch; Editor: Morgan Noelle Smith; Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Jack Corbett, CJ Riculan; Associate Producer: Bobby Carter; Executive producer: Lauren Onkey; VP, programming: Anya Grundmann; Photo: Emily Bogle/NPR

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

    Tags
    NPR Music Tiny Desk ConcertsNPR News
    Bob Boilen
    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.
    See stories by Bob Boilen
    Stephen Thompson
    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
    See stories by Stephen Thompson
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