Squirrel Flower: Tiny Desk Concert

Squirrel Flower: Tiny Desk Concert with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, live, performance, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, tony desk, tiny concert

Elle Mannion | March 13, 2024

“This little guy is someone we picked up on the road,” Squirrel Flower, aka songwriter Ella Williams, says between songs, referencing a tiny toy alligator resting on her mic stand. The Chicago-based indie rocker stopped by the Tiny Desk on the heels of touring her latest album, Tomorrow’s Fire. Here, she plays stripped back versions of her thundering rock songs without her band, giving way for her low register, affecting lyricism and guitar skills to shine.

There’s an intensity unique to each song Williams plays in her Tiny Desk set. “I told you, I've never been in love,” she begins on the aching "Almost Pulled Away.” On “Alley Light,” she sings about not being able to take things slow, musing “maybe that’s why she loves me.” The set seems to reach its apex on “Finally Rain,” when Williams' vocals ring the loudest. But then for the closer, “Iowa 146,” Williams thaws as she performs with a quiet kind of focus that’s just as powerful. She carefully plucks her strings and asks gently: “If I play you guitar, will everything fall away?”

SET LIST

"Almost Pulled Away"

"Alley Light"

"Finally Rain"

"Iowa 146"

MUSICIANS

Squirrel Flower: vocals, guitar

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Elle Mannion

Director/Editor: Kara Frame

Audio Technical Director: Josephine Nyounai

Series Producer: Bobby Carter

Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern

Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault

Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer

Photographer: Michael Zamora

Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Hazel Cills

Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson

VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#tinydesk #nprmusic #squirrelflower