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Stream: 90.5 The Night

Sierra Hull: Tiny Desk Concert

On a cold and snowy night this past winter, Sierra Hull and her band brought bluegrass to Washington, D.C. Despite the frigid temperatures outside, barefoot fans danced as if at a summer music festival. Ever since she first picked up the instrument at a young age, the mandolin virtuoso has captivated audiences; it's no surprise that she still owns the stage two decades later.

At the Tiny Desk months later, her set features four songs from A Tip Toe High Wire, her latest album. "Boom" and "Lord, That's a Long Way" showcase her incredibly fast, fingerpicking abilities. Before performing the third song, Hull tells the audience, "My granny lived such a crazy life in her 80 years that we got to have her. I didn't get to play this song for her before she passed, but I did tell her I was writing a song for her called 'Spitfire.' " Hull's granny experienced the Great Depression in rural Tennessee, was widowed twice and buried a son — she lived a life of hardship, but remained resilient and rebellious in the face of it all.

Hull digs deep in her songwriting, admitting that sometimes she doesn't know what a song's about until it's done. That's the undercurrent of "Muddy Water," which encourages its listener to show yourself as you truly are; Hull now knows that she needs to hear that wisdom as much as us.

SET LIST

  • "Boom"
  • "Lord, That's a Long Way"
  • "Spitfire"
  • "Muddy Water"

MUSICIANS

  • Sierra Hull: vocals, mandolin, guitar 
  • Shaun Richardson: guitar, background vocals
  • Avery Merritt: fiddle, guitar, background vocals
  • Erik Coveney: bass
  • Mark Raudabaugh: drums

TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Kara Frame
  • Director: Joshua Bryant
  • Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
  • Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
  • Video Editor: Maia Stern
  • Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Sofia Seidel
  • Audio Engineer: David Greenburg
  • Production Assistant: Dhanika Pineda
  • Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
  • Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
  • Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

Copyright 2025 NPR

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Kara Frame
Kara Frame is a video producer and director for NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concerts series. To sum up what she loves most about working on the iconic series, she says, "We put joy into the world." In addition to this work, she manages the NPR Music Instagram account. Prior to her work on the music team, she crafted stories about housing segregation in Baltimore, Md., motherhood in a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, and food deserts in Washington, D.C.