A haunting music video earns a Duluth fiddler the top prize in the NPR Music contest that drew 6,100 entries, including dozens submitted by West Michigan artists.
Profoundly Moving: Gaelynn Lea won the Tiny Desk Concerts contest with her song, “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun.”
In the end, it came down to a haunting song by a Minnesota violinist.
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National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concerts video contest, which drew dozens of Michigan entries among the 6,100 submitted from across the country, produced a winner praised by judges for her original, powerful and compelling performance.
Gaelynn Lea, 32, a classically trained fiddler from Duluth, Minn., submitted her song “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun,” earning praise from NPR judges such as “All Songs Considered” co-host Robin Hilton, who called the song profoundly moving, with “the most arresting voice and overall sound” in the competition.
Bob Boilen (Photo/Doby Photography/NPR)
Read the NPR story about this unique artist who was born with brittle bone disease and watch Lea’s video online here.
As this year’s winner of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert contest, Lea will be awarded her own official Tiny Desk Concert in Washington D.C., an appearance on NPR’s “Ask Me Another” and a spot on the NPR-Lagunitas U.S. tour.
She’ll join a long list of stars who’ve played Tiny Desk Concerts in the NPR Music office of “All Songs Considered” host Bob Boilen over the years, including Adele, Wilco, Conor Oberst, Death Cab for Cutie, T-Pain and more.
Numerous West Michigan bands and solo artists submitted entertaining videos in hopes of catching the ear of judges, a panel which included Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.
Those regional artists included Vox Vidorra, The Crane Wives, Max Lockwood & The Michigan Basement, Valentiger, Rachael Davis & Dominic John Davis, The Accidentals, Brotha James, Dave Menzo, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, The Bootstrap Boys and many more. Several of them were featured in recent weeks on the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts contest page.
These entrants in the contest seemed to be just as impressed by Lea’s submission as the judges.
“Amazing,” gushed Dominic John Davis, a Michigan native who’s now based in Nashville. “I loved it.”
Read more about the Michigan submissions — which ranged from polished to rudimentary — and watch the Michigan videos in this Local Spins feature.
VIDEO: Gaelynn Lea, “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun”
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