"My name's Gwenifer Raymond. I mostly just play guitar." There's an understated charm about the Welsh guitarist's limited banter behind the Desk, but little prepares you for what howls from her instrument. Raymond's fingerstyle guitar drones with a haunted quality, but her flurry of bends, slides and chord clusters rip open the firmament.
Steeped in pre-war blues, but picking up on the acoustic innovations of John Fahey and Jack Rose, Raymond started releasing records a little less than a decade ago. But it's on Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark, one of NPR Music's best albums of 2025, where the Cardiff-born and now Brighton-based guitarist forged an unmistakably distinct sound: a controlled recklessness that conjures spells with six strings. Exhilarating, but also terrifying.
After the dizzying shred of "Jack Parsons Blues" and the scenic storytelling of "Bliws Afon Tâf," Raymond comes up for air, suddenly aware of the audience in awe. It's just her back there, after all, with an acoustic guitar — we're lost in the trance, too. And then, as if on cue, she takes us to hell.
SET LIST
- "Jack Parsons Blues"
- "Bliws Afon Tâf"
- "Hell for Certain"
MUSICIANS
- Gwenifer Raymond: guitar
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Lars Gotrich
- Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
- Audio Engineer/Mix: Neil Tevault
- Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Production Assistants: Alina Edwards, Dhanika Pineda
- Photographer: Vanessa Castillo
- Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Josh Newell, Ashley Pointer
- Copy Editor: Daoud Tyler-Ameen
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
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