RDGLDGRN is based in the D.C. suburb of Reston, Va. Local music fans know the band well, and have enjoyed watching it win fans across the country and around the world. A few years ago, I heard its first album (Red, Gold, Green) and fell in love with RDGLDGRN’s style. It’s not only because Dave Grohl played drums in most of the songs, while Pharrell Williams cowrote and co-produced “Doing The Most.” I loved the group’s fresh sound, and how its members rapped over the top of real drums. Their catchy hooks and harmonies quickly grabbed my attention.

When planning for RDGLDGRN’s Tiny Desk show, many details were up for consideration: time, date, technical arrangements, and so on. Of biggest concern, though, was how the group would fit into the scaled-down setting of our space. If you go to a RDGLDGRN show, you’ll see a traditional stage set-up with a full complement of instruments. In the venue, you can hear and feel the excitement of a full-blown band and a full drum set; heads bob, hands wave, bodies move, and you don’t find a single person in the audience standing still. It wouldn’t be easy to contain the energy in such a small space.

The colors in the band’s name represent RDGLDGRN’s members: Red (Marcus Parham), Green (Pierre Desrosiers) and Gold (Andrei Busuioceanu), who wear their respective colors all the time, even when offstage or away from the camera. In light of their recent experimentation with Brazilian-style percussion over acoustic versions of their songs, they decided that an all-acoustic set infused with Brazilian vibes would make for the perfect Tiny Desk concert. After performing “Karnival,” the group’s latest single, RDGLDGRN treated us to unplugged versions of a handful of its best-known songs.

“Karnival” is available now (iTunes) (Amazon).

Set List

• “Karnival”
• “Chop U Down”
• “Doing The Most”
• “No Pixar” (Freestyle)

Credits

Producers: Suraya Mohamed, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Morgan McCloy; Production Assistant: Anna Marketti; Photo: NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

The results — three spare, nervy renditions of songs from 2015’s Dry Food — are, naturally, a bit rawer and more exposed than Palehound’s earlier show in New York. But, with the aid of drummer Jesse Weiss and bassist Davood Khoshtinat, Kempner uses that intimacy to her advantage. She may have paused to show off a bit of glittery flair on her guitar (courtesy of her former tourmates in PWR BTTM), but her set felt unadorned in every other way.

Dry Food is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “Pet Carrot”
• “Dry Food”
• “Dixie”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineers: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

We lived unloved in unmade beds

You wore me like a necklace

You closed me like a locket

Mothers began as Leschper’s project in art school in Athens, Ga. In their quiet moments — which at the Tiny Desk were all the moments — the songs seemed to function as a pursuit of catharsis, aided by fragile, tender melodies. The band helped hold the music together with grace and rhythm.

Two of the songs here are from Mothers’ debut album, When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired, which came out earlier this year; there’s also an aching new track called “Mother And Wife.” Mothers chose the slowest and most languid songs to perform at the Tiny Desk — a sad, quiet, reflective approach which felt just right for the setting.

When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “Too Small For Eyes”
• “Burden Of Proof”
• “Mother And Wife”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineers: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

After voting for Lea, I wanted to learn more about her and her remarkable talent. Following about a minute of just focusing on the desk, her video pans to a small woman in a wheelchair as she plays a violin she holds like a cello. Lea has brittle bone disease, which made it necessary for her to reinvent the ordinary — and, in this case, a way to play the fiddle.

I also discovered, after selecting Gaelynn Lea, that she’d become friends with Alan Sparhawk of the band Low. Sparhawk first heard her perform at a farmers market in Duluth, Minn., where they both live. They’ve become friends who sometimes make music together, recording under the name The Murder Of Crows, so I also invited Sparhawk to join Gaelynn Lea for two of her four songs at this special Tiny Desk concert. There was hardly a dry eye.

Set List

• “Someday We’ll Linger In The Sun”
• “Southwind”
• “Bird Song”
• “Moment Of Bliss”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Colin Marshall/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

“I sang for my girlfriend in high school, and she was like, ‘You actually have a good voice. Do you know that?'” the 27-year-old songwriter says. “I was like, ‘No, I actually don’t.’ Because everybody in my family thinks they’re Beyonce.”

If Trent had lingering doubts about his singing chops, let’s hope he’s cast them aside, because hundreds of Bandwidth readers have just named him the best D.C. entrant into NPR’s national Tiny Desk Contest.

Filmed in his Columbia Heights apartment, Trent’s submission, “Don’t Know/Cross,” won our regional competition in a landslide. The clip features just the singer, his soulful guitar playing and an original song about indecision in love.

“I never win anything,” the Georgetown University graduate tells me. He says the last time was during “some sort of casino night right after prom” at his Atlanta high school.

“I put my name in the drawing, and later that night, I found out that I won a PlayStation 4,” says Trent, who performs under the name Rich Daniel. A couple of weeks later, he won a spot to hang out on the field before a Braves game.

Since then, he says, “it’s just been a 10-year luck drought.” Until this week.

While studying international politics at Georgetown, Trent taught himself guitar, and performed occasionally on campus. At a 2010 concert, he delivered a silky performance of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” followed by Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.”

“Marvin Gaye has been, arguably, the biggest musical influence on my life,” Trent says. “Him, Al Green and Sam Cooke.”

But Trent never made a career out of music. Since he graduated from Georgetown six years ago, he’s split his days between a job at an education nonprofit and a couple of part-time bands. Now he wants to focus on his creative side.

“I’m just about playing all the time,” he tells me, taking a break from busking in Dupont Circle. “I’ve kind of been half-assing it for a while now and I’m just tired of it.”

That’s why Trent is — oof, it hurts! — moving to New York. He left for Brooklyn this morning.

“When I’m traveling and situated in new environments, I write more,” Trent says. “The creative juices are always flowing when I’m in transit.” He hopes to record an EP while living up north.

But the singer plans to visit the D.C. region, where he still has friends and family. And he’ll be back to do a special project — to be announced — with WAMU 88.5’s Bandwidth.

“Hopefully,” Trent says, “this is just the beginning of a lot of good things to come.”

Update, March 3: NPR has announced the national winner of the Tiny Desk Contest.

While NPR prepares to announce the national winner of the 2016 Tiny Desk Contest, I’ve been watching every video submitted by musicians in the Washington, D.C., region. It’s been an enormous job, and a surprising one.

That’s because this year’s crop of local submissions are more diverse than those I saw last year, when NPR first held the national contest. D.C. artists brought more hip-hop, electronic, R&B and all-around strange stuff, spicing up a competition dominated by acoustic-guitar strummers. There were also more local videos this time — around 160, up from last year’s 130.

But while I have my favorites, I’m not going to name what I consider the very best, like I did last year with Kokayi’s awesome Tiny Desk Contest video. I am going to leave that to you, Bandwidth readers.

Here’s the deal. After watching all 160 videos, I picked 10 “semifinalists” and arrayed those in a short playlist. Then I made a gigantic playlist of every single D.C.-area video submitted to the Tiny Desk Contest. So when you vote for your favorite — via our handy survey, below — you can vote for one of my “semifinalists,” or write in your favorite. Because we live in a democracy.

NPR plans to announce the winner of the national contest on Thursday. Fingers crossed the victor hails from D.C. But if we don’t best the entire country, let’s at least crown one of our own.

Voting for Bandwidth’s contest will close 8 p.m. Sunday, March 6. If we get enough votes, we will announce the fan favorite the week of March 7. 

The Top 10 best D.C.-area Tiny Desk Contest videos, according to WAMU 88.5’s Bandwidth:

Every D.C.-area video submitted to the Tiny Desk Contest, according to NPR data:

Top image: A still from Near Northeast’s submission to NPR’s 2016 Tiny Desk Contest

Brushy One String is from Jamaica, and his “Chicken In The Corn” video has been viewed nearly nine million times. I first came upon his music at globalFEST 2014. He even broke his one string that night, but he smiled and warmed our hearts. He’s a deeply spiritual man who tells stories of his musical father and describes how proud his mom and dad would be of his fame if they were around. (He was orphaned at a young age.) He’s part Delta Blues with a bit of old-school soul, and he beats a pulse and rhythm on the guitar body that’s infectious and simple. That’s the beauty of Brushy One String: It’s all essence, and everything’s essential.

No Man Stop Me is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “Destiny”
• “Chicken In The Corn”
• “No Man Stop Me”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Though Wilco is basically a conventional rock band in form — guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, one lead songwriter — it defies expectations in so many other ways. In 2001, the group put an entire new album (the instant classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) online for all to hear; it’s one thing to do that in 2015, as Wilco did with Star Wars, but it was virtually unheard-of in 2001.

This is a deeply imaginative band, with evocative imagery and relatable storytelling; drummer Glenn Kotche is one of the best around, while Nels Cline‘s crazy, textured guitar layers add adventure to everything he touches. I could go on, but let’s just say that breaking my rule of never bringing a band back to the Tiny Desk — Wilco performed here back in 2011 — was easy once I heard Star Wars.

Wilco opened this set with “The Joke Explained” from that album, but then dug deep into its catalog, performing 1996’s “Misunderstood” and two songs from the 1999 pop masterpiece Summerteeth. I’m thinking we make a date: When Wilco turns 25 in a few years, let’s break more rules and bring back their magic once more.

Star Wars is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “The Joke Explained”
• “Misunderstood”
• “I’m Always In Love”
• “Shot In The Arm”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame, Becky Lettenberger; Production Assistant: Ben de la Cruz; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Removed from thunderous distortion, the ghostly “Maw” becomes a nightmare in broad daylight, as Wolfe details “shattered teeth under a dripping tongue” just waiting “in this silence while you’re sleeping.” “Crazy Love,” a love song that’s dangerous in its desperation, sounds no less chilling. But it’s “Iron Moon,” inspired by the poetry of a Chinese factory worker who took his own life, that’s the most stripped of its metal. Wolfe’s guitar sounds muddy and dank as she sings, “My heart is an empty tomb / My heart is an empty room,” recalling the lonesome wail of Kitty Wells shot through the darkness.

Abyss is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “Maw”
• “Crazy Love”
• “Iron Moon”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Walker, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Ariel Zambelich; Production Assistant: Rachel Horn; Photo: Ariel Zambelich/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

He performed this Tiny Desk Concert mostly solo — with occasional input from his nearby Leesburg, Va., friends and Seattle bandmates — for a set that represents only a tiny sliver of what you’ll find on a Car Seat Headrest album. Those records can be filled with rich textures, chaos and harmony, sometimes in the same few minutes. But what you’re about to discover here is a wordsmith with a vision, wrapping his faults and frailties in a DIY sound that’s still finely crafted.

Teens Of Style is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

• “The Drum”
• “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales”
• “Sober To Death”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Walker, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Niki Walker, Julia Reihs; Photo: Jun Tsuboike/NPR

For more Tiny Desk Concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.