Yasmin Williams is a fingerstyle guitarist who faucets, slaps and slides up and down the fretboard of her instrument with a commanding sense of surroundings that glints between the strings. Storytellers construct worlds; on the Tiny Desk, Williams invitations us into hers.
Every music on this efficiency is a chapter that introduces the characters in and round her music. “Hummingbird” options the clawhammer banjo of Allison de Groot and fiddle of Tatiana Hargreaves — they’re fixtures within the old-time music scene who assist to convey this rapturous romp to life. (And, except for recording “Hummingbird” for Acadia, that is solely the second time that the trio has carried out the composition collectively.) The majestic “Sisters” invitations strings, djembe and a 10-foot marimba behind the Desk to color an image of a stupendous Oregon city that, in Williams’ estimation, wants some scenic overlooks.
We love a narrative that comes full circle. In 2018, we have been mesmerized by Williams’ Tiny Desk Contest entry, wherein she carried out “Guitka” with a kalimba taped to her guitar and faucet footwear on her toes. She reprises the music right here, with the assistance of djembe participant Amadou Kouyate. “It is enjoyable to do the whole lot on the similar time!” she tells the group, which incorporates household and associates from her Northern Virginia residence. (Her mother beamed telling me in regards to the time Williams gained an NYU expertise present as a university freshman.) When Williams closes with an early monitor, “Stressed Coronary heart,” we’re taken again to the start: A child who’d whoop her brothers at Guitar Hero, fell in love with the instrument itself, however by no means misplaced her sense of play.
SET LIST
- “Hummingbird”
- “Sisters”
- “Guitka”
- “Stressed Coronary heart”
MUSICIANS
- Yasmin Williams: guitar, kalimba, faucet footwear
- Allison de Groot: banjo
- Tatiana Hargreaves: fiddle
- Lelia-Michelle Walker: viola
- Maggy Simon: violin
- Morgan Brown: viola
- Marcus Grant: marimba
- Amadou Kouyate: djembe
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Lars Gotrich
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Collection Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Body
- Audio Engineer: Andie Huether
- Manufacturing Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Sofia Seidel
- Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
- Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Collection Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
