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 interviewed 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 BobBoilen.info. He performs contradance music and has a podcast of contradance music that he produces with his son Julian.
Boilen's first book, Your Song Changed My Life, was published in April 2016 by HarperCollins.
-
This week's show is an emotional roller coaster with highs courtesy of the electro-pop artists Grimes and Shmu, and lows from the English rock band Money. -
In her remarkable new memoir, Carrie Brownstein paints a startlingly candid portrait of herself that dispels any myths fans might have about her rock-star status with the band Sleater-Kinney. -
The Milk Carton Kids, Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, commandeer the mic and take over this week's show. -
Hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton share anthemic rock, country punk and sunny psych pop from King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. Plus a chat with Rhye's Mike Milosh on his collaboration with j. Viewz. -
This week's essential mix includes several discoveries, including the gritty rock group Diet Cig, the pop group Motel Beds and Twin Limb, a band that finds new ways to use an accordion. -
Hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton share a few of their favorite things, from the week's best new music. -
On this week's +1 Podcast, we talk with producer, DJ and musician Mark Ronson about the allure of vintage sounds, and why he chose to build his career around making the old sound new again. -
Hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton share their latest discoveries, from psych pop to gritty garage rock, with plenty of earworms along the way. -
The new host for NPR's evening news magazine joins All Songs Considered to discuss musicals, powerful voices and why Paul Simon's Graceland never gets old. -
With help from Fiona Apple, two Nickel Creek alums gather a band to perform old and new material. Watch the Watkins Family Hour perform three charming, country-flavored songs at the NPR Music offices.
