Priests: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Watch Priests play "Jesus' Son", "The Seduction of Kansas", "I'm Clean" at the Tiny Desk.

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July 23, 2019 | Bob Boilen -- We've been covering Priests, this fabulous, punk-infused art band, since 2013. I've seen them a lot (they're based here in D.C.). So the request of an upright piano was the last thing I expected when singer Katie Alice Greer and guitarist G.L. Jaguar talked about doing a Tiny Desk Concert. But we wheeled the Yamaha upright in place and they invited their accompanist Mary Voutsas to join bandmates Daniele Yandel and Alexandra Tyson. What we have is a kinder, gentler and starker version of this great band.

Priests played only songs from their personally groundbreaking, genre-stretching album The Seduction of Kansas, an album produced with the creative force of John Congleton. The lyrics for the album's title track are a gateway into their philosophy — how the personal is political. Katie sings, "It's the last picture show, all the cowboys, they get ready / For a drawn-out, charismatic parody / Of what a country thought it used to be."

I'm glad we waited a bit into this band's life to bring them to the Tiny Desk; they're at a creative peak and they brought it home.

SET LIST
"Jesus' Son"
"The Seduction of Kansas"
"I'm Clean"

MUSICIANS
Katie Alice Greer: vocals, drums; Daniele Yandel: drums, vocals; G.L Jaguar: guitar; Alexandra Tyson: bass; Mary Voutsas: piano;

CREDITS
Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Kara Frame, Beck Harlan; Associate Producer: Bobby Carter; Production Assistant: Paul Georgoulis; Photo: Shuran Huang/NPR