The submission window for the second round of NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest opens today, and bands from Northeast Ohio are encouraged to enter the competition. Bands must submit an original video prepared just for the contest. This year, NPR Music and Lagunitas, the brewery known for its fine libations, have teamed up to put together a four-stop tour for the winner in addition to the performance at NPR’s Tiny Desk studio. Local hero Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys joins Son Little and the Lucius ladies as a judge. Bands can submit entries through Feb. 2 at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.

“This contest brings out the creatives in our country,” says All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, who developed NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts series with colleague Stephen Thompson in 2008, in a press release. “When the contest was first introduced, musicians from every state rose to the occasion and made incredible music recorded behind desks set on mountaintops, in the ocean and in cubicles. I simply can’t wait to see and hear what we get this round.”

The tour includes stops at NPR’s Ask Me Another program and at Lagunitas breweries in Petaluma, Calif., and Chicago and a final stop in Portland, Oregon. Along with Boilen and All Songs Considered co-host Robin Hilton, the aforementioned musician judges will select one contest winner to be announced in March. Throughout the three-week submission period and afterwards, NPR Music will also feature select video entries on the Contest Tumblr, which already includes highlights from the 2015 contest

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Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.