Bartees Strange, aka Bartees Cox Jr., has developed a wildly diverse sound due to the wide array of genres and musical stylings that have shaped him as a person. Inspired equally by hip-hop and gospel as he is by indie-rock and folk, the Washington D.C. poured his aspirations and artistic personality into his 2020 debut LP Live Forever.
With his unique stylings in hand, Bartees Strange and his band recorded their own performance for the NPR “Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” series live from his basement.
Reimagining tracks from the 2020 album, Strange brought brand new meaning to his renditions of “In a Cab” and “Flagey God”. The eclectic artist and his band also ripped through versions of Live Forever highlight tracks “Mustang” and “Boomer”.
In between songs, Bartees took time to acknowledge artists giving him inspiration at the moment, which included him giving props to Miami experimental artist Yves Tumor and the National’s Aaron Dessner, who Strange referred to as the “indie rock Michael Jordan”. Watch the glowing Tiny Desk performance from Bartees Strange below.
