NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts

Mickey Guyton (2020x161)

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Mickey Guyton recorded her three-song Tiny Desk (home) concert in a warm-hued corner of a friend’s studio near her Los Angeles home. Her makeshift desk holds the book that inspired its title, alongside a pair of blue baby booties: Guyton will soon give birth to her first child. Albums by Whitney Houston and Patsy Cline -- Guyton’s guardian angels -- rest on the window ledge. The hands of keyboardist Lynette Williams, who also plays in Childish Gambino’s band, are the first sight you see as the music starts. This is country: soulful keyboards, the Afro-Caribbean instruments of percussionist Paul Allen, Jon Sosin’s acoustic guitar. Guyton raises the rafters and distills emotion with impeccable clarity. Her high notes thrill, her nuance in storytelling captivates. A star for our times claims her place.