Prick Tunes: Sturgill Simpson NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

It's been a while. Let's dust this thing off.

I don't see any better way to do that than to let Sturgill Simpson blow the fucking house down.

If you aren't familiar with Simpson, he's released an album in each of the past two years. While High Top Mountain was an emphatic yowl in the mold of Waylon Jennings. His newest release, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, is even bolder, with his marvelous cover of When in Rome's new wave hit "The Promise" a glimpse at the vision with which he's imbued.

The concert embedded below features songs from both albums, starting with the lead single from Metamodern Sounds, "Turtles All the Way Down."



Do yourself a favor and either swing by his site or go to your local record store and pick up his two albums. Neither of these albums are single listen experiences. You'll listen to them on a goddamn loop.

To give you a sense of how he sounds with a full band, here is the aforementioned re-imagination of "The Promise."

Prick Tunes: The National NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Well, since it feels like I'll never actually get to see Tom Berninger's documentary about The National, Mistaken for Strangers, I guess I can quench my thirst for more material on my favorite band by just watching this Tiny Desk Concert on a loop. Lord knows I've listened to Trouble Will Find Me non-stop over the past couple months. Here's to hoping they add a non-festival show in Austin.

Prick Tunes: Dirty Three's NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

I've spent much of this week catching up on the Man on Film entries in the hopes of having all of this year's entries done before the year ends. So far, so good. I really do want to get back in the habit of getting more music up here. In an effort to make good on that, here is an Tiny Desk Concert from NPR Music, something I used to throw up here on many Fridays. This Friday, you'll get 18 minutes of Dirty Three fun.

The three song set consists of "Rain Song" and "The Pier," both of which are found on their 2012 release Toward the Low Sun, and "Last Horse on the Sand" from the 1998 classic album Ocean Songs.

Prick Tunes: Glen Hansard NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Sometimes life (and an internet outage) gets in the way of my spewing content forth here. That's what's been going on for the past two weeks or so. Apologies. I hope to have at least two substantive pieces up next week, including the resumption of Wordy Old Men on Downton Abbey. I do have a project that will take up much of my free time next week, but I plan on knocking some entries out over the weekend to schedule through the coming week.

In the meantime, here is Glen Hansard's recent trip to NPR Music's Tiny Desk in support of his brand new solo album Rhythm and Repose.

Prick Tunes: David Wax Museum NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Word mule pointed this one out a while back but it slipped through the internet ether before finding its way here. If you're down with David Wax Museum, you can also find a recording of their full set at the Newport Folk Festival from last year here.

Prick Tunes: Yann Tiersen's NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Get your relaxation in now because you're about to be dealing with fool-ass tourists running around like assholes for the next three days.

Prick Tunes: Bill Callahan NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

I wish I could do this every Friday. Unfortunately, I would run through the ones I love far too quickly.

Bill Callahan, formerly known as Smog, stopped in at the NPR studio in July of 2009 on the heels of the release of the spectacular Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle in April of that year. Here he plays "Jim Cain," "Rococo Zephyr," and "Too Many Birds," all of which can be found on that album. There is just something about Callahan--that something definitely seems to be rooted in his unique vocal stylings--that I never get my fill of.

Prick Tunes: The Civil Wars NPR Tiny Desk Concert

I am not getting paid by John Paul White, Joy Williams, or anyone else with something to gain by The Civil Wars getting mentioned as often as they do in this space. I swear. I was simply paging through old Tiny Desk Concerts, and I stumbled across this one. What can I say that you shouldn't already know? Just watch the fucking magic happen.

Prick Tunes: Iron and Wine NPR Tiny Desk Concert

For those who were turned off by the production of Kiss Each Other Clean, this session in which Sam Beam straps on a guitar and picks through "Half Moon," "Big Burned Hand," and "Tree by the River" should assuage any doubts as to the quality of the songs themselves. Perhaps the production that was said to hearken back to early-to-mid-70s Elton John records wasn't what you were looking for in an Iron and Wine record. That need not be your concern today.

For good measure, "Naked As We Came" rounds out the four-song set, and as always it is spectacular. From January 21, 2011, Iron and Wine.

Prick Tunes: Wilco Doing NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Wilco went into NPR's studio to do a Tiny Desk Concert back in October, and a Friday makes for a good day to burn 20 minutes at work listening to them take an acoustic run at "Dawned on Me," "Whole Love," "Born Alone," and "War on War.

Prick Tunes: Josh Ritter NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Kicking off with my favorite song of his, Josh Ritter sits down in the NPR Music offices and runs through a short set of "The Temptation of Adam," "Lark," "Rattling Locks," and "Kathleen."

Thus far, I've refrained from putting longer clips like these up in the Prick Tunes columns, as it would be easy to just fall into the habit of simply posting Daytrotter or NPR Music sessions. I really wanted to put up his apocalyptic ballad "The Temptation of Adam," though, and I thought there was a fairly good chance that the good readers of Inconsiderate Prick may not have actually listened to Josh Ritter before.

If you don't have the time for that, here is the album version of aforementioned "The Temptation of Adam."