Black Prairie Tiny Desk Concert

This week NPR posted an excellent Tiny Desk Concert that I'd like to share (video below).  It was by a band called Black Prairie, who are probably more well known than most new acoustic stringbands due to the fact that three of the five members are from The Decemberists.  That would be Chris Funk - dobro and banjo, Nate Query - bass, and Jenny Conlee - piano accordion.  Portlandia!

Black Prairie

However, Black Prairie's musical notoriety doesn't stop there.  Lead singer Annalisa Tornfelt was formerly in a band called Bearfoot.  I recall seeing her with Bearfoot at Ashland Coffee and Tea 4 or 5 years ago.  In addition, guitarist Jon Neufeld is a founder of the Portland based bluegrass band Jackstraw.  I got to see Jackstraw a couple times between 1999 to 2001 - once in Nederland, CO and also multiple sets at the High Sierra Music Festival in California.

I had heard of Black Prairie, but they didn't really catch my attention until this Tiny Desk Concert.  I really like how piano accordion fits into their sound, plus Annalisa is a great singer.  Their most recent album A Tear In The Eye Is A Wound In The Heart was on multiple best of 2012 lists.  It may be time to give it a listen!

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