Tiny Desk Contest On The Road 2026
Warsaw Club, 261 Driggs Avenue, 11222 Brooklyn Kort
fim. 09.07.2026 18:00
NPR's Tiny Desk Contest is back on the road in 2026! Join us this summer as we travel across the country for a one-of-a-kind concert, featuring the Contest winner plus two up-and-coming artists from each city. This year's winner is Cure For Paranoia, the genre-bending project of Dallas-based rapper Cameron McCloud and friends, a dynamic group whose music is playful and political. McCloud started Cure For Paranoia to share the therapeutic experience that "creating music with his people" offered him. A pre-school teacher by day, he posted a new rap every day on social media for all of 2025 Opening acts to be announced soon!
Flytjendur
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Cure For ParanoiaFormed in the heart of Dallas but born on the highway, Cure for Paranoia came together during a “doomsday road trip” intended to be their last. Having recently been diagnosed with bipolar paranoid schizophrenia, frontman Cameron McCloud found clarity in a hot-boxed rental car; making music with collaborators Jay Analog and Tomahawk Jonez gave him peace of mind. “He said, ‘this is my cure for paranoia.’ Instantly, everyone’s eyes lit up,” a pivotal realization that cemented the group’s moniker. When the predicted earth-shattering meteor failed to hit, inspiration struck instead. As Jonez recalls, “On the way from Amarillo to Colorado Springs, like eight songs got written.”
Since then, Cure for Paranoia has shared bills with icons ranging from George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and Nas to Ludacris and Leon Bridges. Their resume includes stops at SXSW, Fortress Festival, and the NPR Tiny Desk Contest "On The Road" Tour, solidifying their status as festival favorites. While keen to distance themselves from standard regional production, they cultivated a signature "Trippy Soul infused hip hop" sound—a blend prioritized on their anchor project, the Work of A.R.T. EP.
