November 17, 2025: Today, groove titans Ghost-Note made their NPR Tiny Desk debut, performing songs from their newest album Mustard n’Onions, out now via Mack Avenue Music Group/Artistry Music. NPR’s Nikki Birch praised the performance as “so funky that every face in the room reflexively assumed and remained in stank position. Yep, this Tiny Desk concert reeks like the Mustard n’Onions the band left behind.”
Led by Snarky Puppy’s GRAMMY-winning drummer-keyboardist Robert “Sput” Searight, Ghost-Note also features veteran band members of Prince, Kendrick Lamar, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Kirk Franklin, amongst other icons. Also along for the funky ride of Mustard n’Onions is a who’s who of groove-music greats. Most moving is the presence of R&B/jazz hero Bernard Wright (1963-2022), whose performances on three tracks would be some of his final recorded appearances. Other guests on Mustard n’Onions include blues-rock god Eric Gales on the psychedelia-soul tinged “Grandma’s Curtains,” Karl Denson, founding Robert Glasper Experiment member Casey Benjamin (1978-2024), Snarky Puppy standouts Mark Lettieri and Jay Jennings, pedal-steel luminary Travis Toy, electric-bass GOAT Marcus Miller, and visionary bass player MonoNeon, who co-wrote the first single “Bad Knees.”
Mustard n’Onions presents a story of the ensemble maturing and solidifying and finding their identity. On the band’s freewheeling 2018 release, Swagism, the lineup was still developing and, as Sput explains, “We didn’t have a sound; we didn’t know what we were gonna sound like.” The music on Mustard n’Onions, he says, reflects the firmed-up character of a unit whose “camaraderie and chemistry” have accrued over countless gigs, and nearly every band member has at least one writing credit. Sput remains Ghost-Note’s primary writer and de facto musical director, but he’s now shaping his music for and with his bandmates. Additionally, the band’s debut album Fortified will see its first ever vinyl pressing as part of RSD Black Friday 2026.
