Marisa Anderson: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Marisa Anderson knows where American guitar music has been and where it is now, and probably possesses an inkling of where it can go. She s studied the history and musical nuance of blues, country and folk music through and through, and ingests it all in a style that s as raw as it true. But mostly, Anderson just wants to kick up some dirt which isn t easy here, given that the NPR Music offices are relatively clean. (Mind the towering stacks of CDs, though. They could topple over at any time. ) In 2013, Anderson released two albums. December s Traditional and Public Domain Songs contains exactly what its title suggests; as she says, I thought of these songs like our national parks they belong to all of us. If we don t use em, we ll lose em, I reckon, or someone will buy At the Tiny Desk, that includes Stephen Foster s parlor song Hard Times Come Again No More, in which she slowly builds the melody with a violent shake. Mercury came out six months prior, and it sidewinds through Americana off