Kirk Franklin Blesses NPR Tiny Desk From His Home Studio

Kirk Franklin is the latest performer on NPR’s Tiny Desk Black History Month series.

On Thursday, NPR released the latest episode of the NPR Tiny Desk (Home) concert series featuring Kirk Franklin. The gospel legend brought a nine-piece band along for a four-track performance from his home studio in Arlington, Texas, affectionately named Uncle Jesse’s Kitchen after a close friend. Stream the full performance below.

The setlist features hymns from four of his nine albums: “Love Theory,” “Silver and Gold,” “Melodies From Heaven,” and “I Smile.” The band is composed of Melodie Pace, Darian Elliot, Michael Bethany, Eboni Ellerson, Deon Yancey, Tia Rudd, Shaun Martin, Matthew Ramsey and Terry Baker.

NPR is featuring all Black artists in honor of Black History Month. The celebration began with Wynton Marsalis and the JLCO septet. Since then, names like GIVĒON, Meshell Ndegeocello, KeiyaA, Davido, and Sampa the Great have showed up so far. You can also check out performances from 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Bartees Strange, Melanie Charles, Rae Khalil, and Immanuel Wilkins. Tune in to NPR’s YouTube channel to catch up on all the performances. Stay tuned for the last three performances of the month, as they’re shaping up to be worth a watch.

If the four tracks from this set aren’t enough, you could also revisit Kirk’s Verzuz battle with Fred Hammond from May.

Kirk Franklin recently performed to spotlight a local Black-owned business (Black Coffee, in East Fort Worth, Texas) for iHeartRadio’s Living Black! show. The set also included “Love Theory” and “I Smile.”