From Brooklyn, 10th Grader Nora Brown Channels Appalachia For A Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

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BY BOB BOILEN

Every January, I attend globalFEST at a New York City nightclub and see some of the most fantastic music I’ll experience all year. Now, given the pandemic’s challenges and the hardening of international borders, NPR Music and globalFEST moved the 2021 edition from the nightclub to your screen of choice and shared the festival with the world. We called it Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST. We presented 16 artists in intimate settings (often behind desks donning globes) representing more than a dozen countries.

Thirty feet below the surface in Brooklyn, 10th grader Nora Brown brings incredible, surprising depth to the Appalachian music she plays. Over the course of her Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST concert, surrounded by innumerable globes and instruments, she infuses new life and energy into the traditional songs of Addie Graham, Virgil Anderson and Fred Cockerham. Nora weaves together songs and storytelling, speaking of the great history of the music that came before her and at which she excels. This performance took place on the second night of our 2021 festival. —globalFEST

SET LIST

• “The Very Day I’m Gone”
• “Miner’s Dream”
• “Little Satchel”

MUSICIANS

• Nora Brown: vocals, banjo

CREDITS

• Producer: Nora Brown
• Producer: Benton Brown
• Video: Benton Brown
• Audio: Joseph “joebass” DeJarnette at Studio808A
• Post Supervisor: Peter McCabe Pictures

Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST

TINY DESK TEAM

• Producer: Bob Boilen
• Video Producer: Morgan Noelle Smith
• Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin
• Associate Producer: Bobby Carter
• Tiny Production Team: Kara Frame, Maia Stern
• Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey
• Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

GLOBALFEST TEAM

• Co-Directors: Shanta Thake, Isabel Soffer, and Bill Bragin
• 2021 Curators: Shanta Thake, Isabel Soffer, Bill Bragin, and Viviana Benitez
• Event Producer: Ian Thake

• Host: Angélique Kidjo
• Social Media Manager: Valerie French
• Publicity: Brendan Gilmartin, Chart Room Media
• Legal Services: Tamizdat
• Legal Services: Duane Morris
• Producer: THE OFFICE performing arts + film
• Video Production: MODEMA Studios