Beyoncé’s new album is here; Joni Mitchell performs at Newport Folk Festival

Plus, standout Tiny Desk Contest entries.

View this email online July 30, 2022 by Marissa Lorusso This week, we’re sharing standout videos from artists who entered this year’s Tiny Desk Contest; plus, news about Joni Mitchell at Newport and Beyoncé’s latest record YouTube The week in music started with the glorious surprise return of one musical icon to the stage and ended with the highly anticipated release of a new album by another. And while we have plenty to say about both of those, we're going to start this newsletter with a few musicians who are not nearly as well-known. You might recognize the name Alisa Amador — she beat out thousands of other musicians to be named this year’s Tiny Desk Contest winner. When she came to NPR HQ, she performed the first Tiny Desk concert with a crowd in over 800 days, and pretty much everyone in that crowd was blown away by her captivating voice and charming presence. But the Tiny Desk Contest team watched each and every entry that came into this year’s Contest, and they heard a lot of great songs — and tons of great stories about the artists who had made them. For the past few weeks, Weekend Edition has been spotlighting some of those artists — artists like Wryn, whose moving song was inspired by witnessing the challenges that transgender youth face in accessing healthcare, and Micah Edwards, whose entry has an upbeat, soulful sound and sentimental lyrics that caught our judges’ ears. Weekend Edition also talked to Lillian Frances, a songwriter and rock climber who filmed her striking entry video from a portaledge on the side of a cliff in Lake Tahoe. (I’ve watched a lot of Tiny Desk Contest entries in the past few years, and I can safely say I’ve never seen anything like her entry.) And this weekend, host Scott Simon talked to Brooklyn-based artist Marcus Jade about the remarkable blues song he submitted to this year’s Contest and how his music and resilience have helped him through some particularly difficult times. Newsletter continues after sponsor message New Music Beyoncé’s new record, Renaissance, is here. The 16-song LP marks Bey’s first solo album in six years, following her pivotal visual album Lemonade. If you want to catch up before you dive in, my colleague Sidney Madden hosted an All Songs Considered conversation with our pop critic, Ann Powers, plus Ayana Contreras of WBEZ Chicago about where Beyoncé has been and what a new album from the superstar means for pop music and beyond.  Renaissance aside, some other great new albums came out this week, too. On New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, our panel discussed the delightful new album from pop singer and songwriter Maggie Rogers; the head-spinning, jazz-adjacent debut from DOMi & JD Beck; a gorgeous, self-titled release from indie-folk band Florist and more. Featuring Last Sunday, Joni Mitchell surprised crowds at the Newport Folk Festival (and fans across the world who saw on social media) with an unannounced performance. It was Mitchell’s first time performing at Fort Adams since an evening appearance there in 1969, and her first full-length public concert anywhere in two decades. Brandi Carlile, who has diligently worked to ensure Mitchell's place at the center of popular music history for the past five years, was the force behind Mitchell’s return to the stage. The set began as a group singalong with "Carey," the beloved romp from Blue, Mitchell’s classic album that turned 50 last year (if you want a reminder of the lasting power and genius of that record, I recommend Ann Powers’ deep dive on the record from last year).  Mitchell has spent years recovering from a 2015 brain aneurysm, which left her unable to speak or walk, much less play the guitar. "To be able to recover to the point of being able to perform as a musician is really incredible," Dr. Anthony Wang, a neurosurgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Hospital, told NPR. Also this week: We asked Maggie Rogers to make us a roséwave playlist in honor of Surrender, her summery new record; Jazz Night in America shines a light on Rhoda Scott, an American organist who moved to Europe on a whim and became a jazz superstar; and our friends at the public radio show Live from Cain's shared a video of Kalyn Fay performing "Spotted Bird," part of a new album of original music performed entirely in the Cherokee language. Tiny Desk Bob Boilen/NPR A song by the band Pigeon Pit has been getting my colleague Lars Gotrich through the year. Called “milk crates,” it’s a folk-punk track about finding “freedom from tyranny, exhaustion and the everyday nonsense that drags us down,” as Lars puts it. So he invited Pigeon Pit to play that song, plus a few others, for a cathartic, hopeful Tiny Desk concert.  One More Thing A new college course that goes in more than One Direction Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). 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