Yebba: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.

Bobby Carter | September 8, 2021

As the camera slowly rises to the room, we see Yebba in the center of a circle, complete with band members, background singers and a string quartet. The room is part of Electric Lady Studios, where her debut album, Dawn, was recorded. The album bears the name of Yebba's mother, whom she tragically lost in 2016, and its songs find the Memphis native delving inward to process it all.

The singer is a bit of a live wire, rarely giving the same performance twice, and that's on display during most of this Tiny Desk (home) concert. The songs differ slightly or not so little compared to the studio sessions from Dawn, especially on the swelling interpretation of the lead single, "Distance." In between each song, Yebba shares unfocused and playful banter that just feels like she's family, and that feeling persists throughout this entire set, right down to the eye contact she shares with keyboardist and co-writer James Francies when speaking candidly about the final song, "How Many Years."

This Tiny Desk concert has been in the works since the spring of 2020, when the album was completed but shelved until Yebba (and the rest of the world) was in a better place. It was worth the wait.

SET LIST

"Stand"

"Distance"

"All I Ever Wanted"

"How Many Years"

MUSICIANS

Yebba: vocals

James Francies: keys

Burniss Travis: bass

Stro Elliot: MPC drums

Charles Myers: guitar

Niya Norwood: vocals

Schadrack Pierre: vocals

Brandon Pain: vocals

Marta Bagratuni: cello

Francesca Dardani: violin

Sulamit Gorski: violin

Nicole Wright: viola

CREDITS

Producer: Abbey Smith

Video: Andy Swartz, Bo Zhang, Ina Ubaite

Audio: Gosha Usov, Brandon Bost

Assistant Engineers: John Muller, Daniel Perez

Gaffer: AJ Holden

Key Grip: Hunter Herrick

"A" Camera Operator: Andy Poland

1st Assistant Camera: Rob Ko

"B" Camera Operator: Alan Jensen

Dolly Grip: Tom Sarvello

Electric: Greg Deseve

Production Assistant: Styven Jeune

Management: Ross Michaels, David Lai, Ina Ubaite

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Bobby Carter

Video Producer: Maia Stern

Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin

Tiny Production Team: Bob Boilen, Kara Frame, Gabrielle Pierre

Executive Producer: Keith Jenkins

Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

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