Bobby Carter
Bobby Carter is a leader on the Tiny Desk Concerts team for NPR Music. He's brought an ever growing roster of big names and emerging artists through NPR's HQ to squeeze behind the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen and record standout performances, including Usher, Mac Miller, Noname, Anderson.Paak and H.E.R.
From 2020-2022, Carter and the music team adapted to the challenges of the pandemic to produce the innovative Tiny Desk [Home] Concerts series with artists like Kirk Franklin, Tame Impala, Tems, Jazmine Sullivan and C. Tangana.
Carter has created new initiatives and programs to grow and diversify the Tiny Desk audience. He helped usher the Tiny Desk audience into new spaces through partnerships with Complexcon, HBO's Insecure and the 2021 film Coming 2 America. He also conceptualized a Black History Month Tiny Desk showcase in 2021. With that programming serving as a catalyst, he's since led the development of additional packages for Black Music Month, LatinX Heritage Month, Asian American/Pacific Islander Month and Indigenous People Month. His work in recent years has led to multiple Webby Award wins, an Anthem Award and a BET Hip Hop Award nomination. He's also a music writer, a judge for the Tiny Desk Contest and a busy veteran DJ (DJ Cuzzin B).
Carter originally joined NPR as an intern with NPR's digital media team in 2000, and soon after landed work as a digital media engineer. Following the launch of NPR Music in 2007 — while still working as an engineer processing on-demand audio and video for breaking news, special coverage, and live streams to reach all of NPR's digital platforms — Carter began writing end of year music roundups and producing Tiny Desk Concerts. He left his engineer role to become a full-time producer for NPR Music in 2018.
Carter hails from St. Louis, and is a graduate of Jackson State University, where he also worked at Member station WJSU while a senior in college.
-
Unsigned artists can submit their original music to the Contest until March 13. -
From a backstage corner of a concert hall in Austin, Texas, the Godmother of Soul performs hits from across the many chapters of her fabulous career.
-
The torchbearer for the DeBarge family plays a few of his R&B standards from a cozy home studio.
-
In celebration of her stunning debut album, Three Dimensions Deep, the singer-songwriter and producer plays a deeply intimate Tiny Desk home concert.
-
The DMV-bred emcee's Tiny Desk home concert is a charismatic combo of fan favorites and cuts from his new album, From a Birds Eye View.
-
One of the biggest songs of 2021 was technically released in 2020 — so it can't be included on lists of the year's best music. NPR's Bobby Carter shouts out the song "Essence" by Wizkid.
-
Three ladies featured on the latest Insecure soundtrack perform a Tiny Desk home concert from Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen in Inglewood, California.
-
Adorning hues that recall the title of her latest EP, If Orange Was a Place, the Nigerian singer performs a Tiny Desk home concert from an elegant performance space in Lagos.
-
The London rapper performs songs from her new album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert from a living room dropped inside a void.
-
Ronald and Ernie Isley broadcast from their St. Louis, Mo. studio to share four classics from the Isley Brothers' legendary catalog.
