Earlier this month, NPR named Ruby Ibarra the winner of the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest. Among the nearly 7,500 entries were a handful of Gulf Coast locals. We decided to reach out and give them a chance to share the stories behind their music.
Shore Enough is a musical trio from Panama City, Florida, bringing their own brand of emo music to the Gulf Coast Panhandle. The group dynamic consists of married couple Cassie and Ellen Fish, and their best friend George Pierce. The band sees themselves as more than partners in music, they are a family utilizing their bond to spread their music to anyone who will listen. Although the group in this formation has been together for less than a year, the three have been playing music collectively or individually for the entirety of their lives. Ellen Fish took the time to give a little context and background information on the group and their reasons for submitting their song for Tiny Desk consideration.
How long have you been playing music?
Fish: All three of us have had a close relationship with music our whole lives. Cassie, our lead singer, grew up taking vocal lessons and participated in choir during high school. She was also a part of her church’s live band growing up. George, one of our two songwriters/guitarists, has always loved music, but over the last few years, he has taken up guitar, songwriting, and singing. Lastly, Ellen, our other songwriter and guitarist, has been in classical musical settings since childhood. She took lessons on the viola and participated in orchestras, as well as choirs, and bands all her life. At 15, she took up guitar, then ukulele, and began writing and recording music.
What inspires your music?
Fish: The three of us share a dream to help others and relate to new people through music. It’s the one thing that has always been there for us three to help us through life, and we feel that we can give back by creating new songs and then sharing them with folks! Our two songwriters take inspiration largely from their personal lives and experiences. We all have a story to tell, and it’s super rewarding to do that through songwriting, especially if it means somebody listening will feel more understood and less alone.
Where can people see you play?
Fish: We are still pretty new, started playing officially in September of 2024, but we are taking up every opportunity to perform around our local area of Panama City, as well as in Tallahassee. We’re also hoping to perform at PensaPride this year as well, although we don’t know for sure yet.
Our guitarists and songwriters, Ellen and George, spent almost all of last year performing solo all over the regional area before establishing the band, with Cassie as lead, last September. We’ve had a few gigs since and are currently filling out our summer schedule.
Do you have a favorite Tiny Desk concert?
Fish: Ellen and Cassie, love Chappell Roan’s Tiny Dest Concert! She’s one of our favorite artists, and her outfit for that was amazing, as her outfits normally are. George’s favorite Tiny Desk Concert has to be Sabrina Carpenter’s because of her phenomenal vocals and how entertaining her performance was as well.
What inspired you to submit your music to Tiny Desk?
Fish: We submitted to Tiny Desk this year because we want to capitalize on every opportunity we have to share our music with others. It would have been very cool to win, obviously, but moreover, we thought it would be a good platform to help allow more people to hear what we’re working on and listen to this art that we put so much into making. Additionally, we wanted to do our little part to help support NPR with our submission, which we got to share with friends and family.
