Nearly 7,000 independent artists entered this year’s Tiny Desk Contest, NPR Music’s annual search for the next great undiscovered artist. Earlier today, Morning Edition revealed the winner: a Sacramento producer, singer, rapper and multi-instrumentalist who performs as The Philharmonik. As he soaks in his big win and prepares to travel to NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to perform a Tiny Desk concert, songwriter Christian Gates joins Juana Summers to share the story behind his winning entry.

One of the requirements when submitting to the Tiny Desk Contest is that each video must feature a desk. (It shows the judges that artists are prepared to play behind the real Tiny Desk; plus, it’s fun.) Gates says that desks usually make him feel as if he’s deviating from his own path by working for someone else. Eventually, he decided he needed to work at his own desk.

In a YouTube comment on his video, Gates shouts out the Sacramento community, which helped him see this vision through when he said he didn’t have a single penny to his name.

Gates expands on this comment in his All Things Considered interview, sharing with Summers that he went through a dark and humbling time last year. While driving for Uber in order to make ends meet, he got into a bad car accident and could no longer work.

“I was really scrounging up money for change, to even do shows,” he says. “I had these big visions for shows where I wanted nine people playing with me — but I couldn’t afford it. And as the months went by it got progressively worse. And my other bills started to fall behind, too.”

Then, when the Tiny Desk Contest opened, he asked his community for a favor.

“I said, hey, I think we could do good in this Contest if we execute this vision — but I really need your guys’ help with this,” Gates explains. “And everybody, absolutely everybody, came through to help me with no hesitation.”

Gates says that since winning the Contest, it feels like his life has changed overnight.

“I’m glad that I went through the struggle, because 1715811069 this win feels so honest to me, to what I believe in. It’s a reflection of what I’ve worked for,” he shares. “So I’m eternally grateful for everything that I’ve gone through, good and bad.”

This summer, Gates and his eight-piece band will headline the 10-city Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour. You can get tickets to see The Philharmonik, plus other local Contest entrants, at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.

Copyright 2024 NPR

COLUMBIA — South Carolina women’s basketball will open its 2024-25 season against Michigan on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas, giving the Gamecocks their first opponent for the self-proclaimed “repeat tour.”

Coach Dawn Staley revealed the news Wednesday. The game will be played at T-Mobile Arena as part of the 2024-25 Hall of Fame series, which features a doubleheader with a men’s game between Texas and Ohio State.

Staley previously said that finalizing a schedule was difficult because of the lack of opponents wanting to play the Gamecocks, who won the national championship on April 7, completing an undefeated season.

On Tuesday, the 2024-25 SEC opponents were released. South Carolina will play a home-and-home series with SEC newcomer Texas.

The Wolverines were 20-14 last season, losing to Kansas in overtime in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

THIS SEASON: South Carolina women’s basketball looks loaded again in 2024-25 roster under Dawn Staley

South Carolina and Michigan have not played each other since 1995 when the Gamecocks beat the Wolverines 78-69 on Dec. 1 in Ann Arbor. The Gamecocks are 3-0 overall against the Wolverines, and the two other wins were at home. The first was a 84-50 win on Feb. 8, 1976 and the second on Dec. 1, 1994 when the Gamecocks won 82-78.

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

After landing three wide receivers via the transfer portal during the first open window of the offseason, South Carolina added two more potential playmakers during the post-spring opening in Dalevon Campbell and Vandrevius Jacobs.

Now, those additions are one step closer to being official.

“They signed their stuff this week,” head coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday night at the Spartanburg stop on the Welcome Home Tour. “Get them in here in a couple weeks and see how they can help us.”

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The 6-foot-4, 218-pound Campbell tallied 69 receptions for 1,053 Yards and three touchdowns during the last two seasons combined at Nevada. He has one year of eligibility left and brings added size to a position that isn’t heavy on it.

“With Dalevon, he’s a guy that has played a lot of football, been very productive as a player,” Beamer said. “We were looking after spring practice to try to add a little bit more size to that room. He’s a big receiver as well, and he’ll certainly help us there. He’s a veteran guy.”

Jacobs, a former four-star prospect who redshirted as a freshman last year, is an intriguing player in that he has a full four years of eligibility left.

He caught three passes for 60 yards and a touchdown last season with Florida State and was still able to maintain his redshirt status.

“He’s a guy that highly recruited to come into high school, and he can run. And that’s what we like,” Beamer said. “He’s still young. I like the fact that he’s still got four more years of college as well.”

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The two newcomers will soon join a receiving corps that continues to be wide open as the Gamecocks look to replace most of last year’s production.

“Really, all we know about (the portal additions) right now is talking to high school coaches, talking to their coaches where they came from, spending time with them when they came in on a visit, watching their tape that they had going into this season,” Beamer said. “We’ll find out even more about him once they get on campus. But two great young men. Really enjoyed visiting with when they were here on visits and excited about how they can just continue to add to the overall depth and competition in that receiver room.”