Tom Jones Celebrates His Birthday with NPR Music Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Today, NPR Music celebrates Sir Tom Jones' 81st birthday with the release of his Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, featuring performances of songs from his new critically acclaimed album Surrounded By Time, out now via BMG. NPR Music's Bob Boilen said, "Tom Jones is back... and ready to share his deepest feelings, channeling songs by others with a voice still rich and muscular. It's a triumphant return to the Tiny Desk (his first visit was in 2009)."

Boilen continues, "The songs on the album (and for this Tiny Desk) deal so eloquently with time and aging. Tom Jones sings Bob Dylan's 'One More Cup Of Coffee' and going 'down to the valley below.' Then, he takes on Malvina Reynolds' folk tune 'There's No Hole In My Head' and turns it into a fierce statement about being yourself. When Tom Jones was 33, and after one of his infamous shows in Las Vegas, jazz composer Bobby Cole presented him with the song 'I'm Growing Old.'... Tom Jones didn't feel old enough to do it justice, but he held on to it. His performance here brought me to tears and is well worth the wait."

Surrounded By Time debuted at No. 1 on the official UK albums chart, Jones' first chart-topper in over 20 years, and setting the record for the oldest artist ever to do so with an album of new material. The album has been praised by The Guardian, PEOPLE Magazine, The Boston Globe, AARP, The A.V. Club, Forbes, and many more including The Independent who called it "a triumph of hope and experience," and The New Yorker proclaiming it "steeped in gravity."

Recently, Sir Tom appeared on The TODAY Show, WTF with Marc Maron, NPR's Here & Now, World Cafe, and last month made his US performance debut on the album where he brought a stunning rendition of "No Hole In My Head" to Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Co-produced by Ethan Johns and Mark Woodward, Surrounded By Time marks out new territory with a sonic landscape of outstanding musicianship and a vocal delivery that re-imagines a diverse set of songs of personal importance that have impacted Jones throughout a long, unpredictable but undeniably impressive career.

Watch the Tiny Desk Concert here:

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