Watching the videos for all of the St. Louis singers, songwriters, bands and musicians who submitted entries to NPR's Tiny Desk Contest 2016 was not heavy lifting.
Why would it be?
There were creative interpretations of what constitutes a "desk." But best of all, original songs across genres offered a feel for the wealth of local talent we have in our area.
We featured more than 50 groups -- you can still see their entries here -- and from those, you voted for Mt. Thelonious as St. Louis' local favorite.
Come on down to St. Louis Public Radio (3651 Olive Street) on FRIDAY, MARCH 11 at 1 p.m. for a special pop-up tiny desk concert with Mt. Thelonious. Doors open at 12:30pm.
And come back to our website every day next week to find out about the four other St. Louis bands and singers picked as local favorites. Willis Ryder Arnold, our arts and culture reporter, will have profiles of them and a new Audio Agitation playlist featuring this stupendous local talent.
UPDATE: Early Thursday morning NPR Music released the name of their Tiny Desk winner: Gaelynn Lea, a 32-year-old classically trained fiddler from Duluth, Minnesota. Bob Boilen says, her "music is steeped in Celtic tradition and American fiddle tunes." Words that keep popping up to describe her sound: arresting and haunting. Check her out.
