Bob Boilen
In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
Significant listener interest in the music being played on All Things Considered, along with his and NPR's vast music collections, gave Boilen the idea to start All Songs Considered. "It was obvious to me that listeners of NPR were also lovers of music, but what also became obvious by 1999 was that the web was going to be the place to discover new music and that we wanted to be the premiere site for music discovery." The show launched in 2000, with Boilen as its host.
Before coming to NPR, Boilen found many ways to share his passion for music. From 1982 to 1986 he worked for Baltimore's Impossible Theater, where he held many posts, including composer, technician, and recording engineer. Boilen became part of music history in 1983 with the Impossible Theater production Whiz Bang, a History of Sound. In it, Boilen became one of the first composers to use audio sampling — in this case, sounds from nature and the industrial revolution. He was about Whiz Bang by Susan Stamberg on All Things Considered.
In 1985, the Washington City Paper voted Boilen 'Performance Artist of the Year.' An electronic musician, he received a grant from the Washington D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to work on electronic music and performance.
After Impossible Theater, Boilen worked as a producer for a television station in Washington, D.C. He produced several projects, including a music video show. In 1997, he started producing an online show called Science Live for the Discovery Channel. He also put out two albums with his psychedelic band, Tiny Desk Unit, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Boilen still composes and performs music and posts it for free on his website . He performs and has a podcast of contradance music that he produces with his son Julian.
Boilen's first book, , was published in April 2016 by HarperCollins.
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What was it like to see Pink Floyd at the UFO Club in 1966, or to produce the band's first song? Legendary record producer Joe Boyd explains on this edition of All Songs Considered. -
She's a stunning singer — but when Adia Victoria isn't singing, her thoughts might look a little like this cartoon.
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At 21, the English singer channels the sound of the Grand Ole Opry with her thoughtful story-songs.
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The man Susan Stamberg called "NPR's secret weapon," whose depth of knowledge matched the perfect music to NPR's stories for 20 years, was an accomplished musician in his own right. -
This week's show features songs that are fueled by emotion, namely passion and desire. -
Filmmaker Bill Morrison is known for telling stories using archival footage. Now he's teamed up with contemporary composer Kurt Wagner and his band Lambchop for the new film The Dockworker's Dream.
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Everything serves the songs here: There's no overplaying, no frills, just great music and a tremendous new artist who sounds thrilled to be playing it.
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The Lemon Twigs are two teenaged brothers with a love of the baroque rock sounds of the 1960s. The frolic and frills of that era are on display in the video for "These Words."
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The pair behind Iggy Pop's latest album talks about theories of songwriting, formative musical experiences and why the perspective of a 68-year-old punk is essential to American music. -
On this week's +1 podcast, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton chat with the remarkable violinist Gaelynn Lea, winner of this year's Tiny Desk Contest.
