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.
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Choosing one winner from all the incredible entries NPR Music receives each year is no small feat — but this year, one songwriter gave a captivating performance that rose to the top.
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Unsigned artists: Starting next week, you can submit your songs to the 2022 Contest. If you win, you'll get to play behind Bob Boilen's desk.
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Picking one winner from thousands of amazing entries wasn't easy. But one singer-songwriter rose to the top, with a song about rooting yourself in nature that stopped our judges in their tracks.
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Unsigned musicians: We want to hear from you. Starting May 11, send us a video of you performing one original song at a desk — and you might get to come play behind Bob Boilen's.
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While Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi made her new album in their new home of Ireland during 2020, they felt called by the places that had given them life and drawn to the mysteries of death. -
The 2021 South by Southwest music festival took place entirely online, but that didn't stop Bob Boilen from seeing dozens of performances. Watch a few of his favorite sets here. -
Isolation and the disappearance of live music changed the All Songs Considered host's listening habits drastically in 2020. These albums offered not just calm, but richness and depth to explore. -
The All Songs Considered host shares his highlights from a hard year. -
This year's Tiny Desk Contest was truly like no other. Our winner stood out from the over 6,000 entries with a song about slowing down and enjoying life that captivated our judges.
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The singer and writer talks about his new memoir and Airborne Toxic Event album, Hollywood Park, with All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen.
