NPR Music brought all of us an early holiday gift – skipping placing it under the tree entirely – when they released Billy Strings’ first ever Tiny Desk Concert on December 10. With his touring band of Jarrod Walker (mandolin), Royal Masat (bass), Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), and Billy Failing (banjo) circled up around him, Strings performed three tracks from his GRAMMY-nominated 2024 album Highway Prayers as well as a fan favorite, “Red Daisy,” from 2021’s Renewal, which kicked off the set. Watch above.
Bluegrass is perfectly suited to the stripped-down, acoustic Tiny Desk setting of course, the genre seemingly designed for just these sorts of informal contexts, with listeners gathered around and that high lonesome sound cutting above. Still, the NPR Music staff gush in their post of the concert about Strings’ sonic instincts in the space. “It’s rare these days for an artist to ask for fewer microphones,” they write in their description of the mini set, “but after warming up in our space, Billy Strings did just that.”
Strings and his band routinely step away from their pedal boards, pick ups, and instrument and vocal mics even on the biggest arena stages in the country, so it’s no surprise they leaned further into the cozy and informal vibes of NPR’s Tiny Desk, dancing around the single center microphone while certain instruments are augmented slightly by clip-on condensers.
No matter the heights to which this group ascends, they never forget their unassuming bluegrass roots. Strings is noticeably excited and humbled to take his turn behind the Tiny Desk. “We’ve been lucky to play a lot of cool venues,” Strings says during his set. “But this one’s different. It has that same soul to it because — I’ve seen so many amazing performances that happened right here and I kind of believe that love and spirit kind of soaks into this environment, so just standing here feels like a special thing.”
Though, like all Tiny Desk performers, they only perform a handful of tracks, Billy Strings and his band did indeed accomplish a very special thing with their debut Tiny Desk Concert.
Highway Prayers is nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album at the 2026 GRAMMY Awards to be held in February in Los Angeles. We spoke to Strings around the release of the project in 2024, when he was our Artist of the Month.