Bob Boilen & Michael Barron have been writing and playing music together since they met nearly 30 years ago in Washington, DC and formed Tiny Desk Unit. This is the third full album the pair have released, all 3 in response to the RPM Challenge. The idea is to spark creativity with a deadline, in this case the deadline is to make an album from scratch in one month.

The first time we took up the challenge was shortly after our friend and Tiny Desk Unit drummer Lorenzo “Pee Wee” Jones died. The 3 founding members of Washington DC’s Tiny Desk Unit Michael Barron, Susan Mumford and Bob Boilen “got together” (Michael was collaborating from the west coast) and made what was the very first full length Tiny Desk Unit studio album. That 2007 record was called “Sputnik Fell on My Birthday”

Michael Barron and Bob Boilen continued making music that year and in 2008 formed Danger Painters and gave birth to their debut record. Pink Chair is the record made for the 2009 RPM Challenge, and we were joined by our friend William X. Harvey and his wonderful bass playing.

Now it’s iii, our third album, one that finds Bob Boilen writing songs with words and singing, a personal challenge he tackled this year. There’s also a song from William X. Harvey, some singing from friend Kelli Scarr (Bob met Kelli when she came to NPR to sing with Moby on a project).

We also find Michael’s singing and songwriting stronger than ever.

The very nature of the challenge means that these songs might have benefited from a little more time, but there is also a freedom in that deadline, knowing that it doesn’t need to be perfect, and in that freedom, i think there’s a bit more risk taking and a little more adventure.

Enjoy

with William X. Harvey