The star performed tracks from Underdressed at the Symphony and the 2021 favorite, “In a Good Way”
The bowing sounds of a string quartet open Faye Webster‘s Tiny Desk Concert. On Friday, NPR released the video for the musician’s visit to the beloved live performance series as she serenaded the room with a breezy, four-song set.
Webster opened her performance with a jazzy, flowing rendition of “In a Good Way” from 2021’s I Know I’m Funny Haha, enhancing the track with a guitar solo from Matthew Stoessel near the end of the song. The performance continued with a rendition of “But Not Kiss” from her 2024 album, Underdressed at the Symphony.
“I want to sleep in your arms but not kiss/I long for your touch but don’t miss,” she opened the track backed by its piano melodies and soft pedal steel. “Don’t want to regret any of this.”
Webster played her latest album’s title track, “Underdressed at the Symphony,” before introducing her longtime band and her string-playing “special guests.” Webster closed the set with “Jonny,” replacing the horns on the original recording with the dreamy strings from her accompanying quartet, and its spoken-word reprise dedicated to an ex-lover she’s letting go.
“Yes, Jonny, I’ll say it/This is a love song, isn’t it?” she muses. “Yes, well, I guess this is how it ends/A strange poem about a plain and ready white wall/One with many questions.”
Webster appeared on a digital-exclusive cover of Rolling Stone‘s Future of Music issue last year, which highlighted her “no-fucks-given blend of indie pop, R&B stoner jams, and wistful folk.”
“I’ve always thought it’s really important that people see me as a regular guy,” Webster told Rolling Stone for the profile. “I think a lot of the anxiety and the tension I feel is because I am a regular guy, and when people idolize me, it makes me uncomfortable, because I don’t even idolize myself. I’m glad people can relate to me.”
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