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.
-
Wednesday night's showcases blends the sounds of Haiti, India, Italy and the Indigenous people of North America.
-
Our first night of live performances features music from Algeria, Argentina, Ukraine and North Carolina.
-
Patrick Grossi's heavenly voice is backed by a stunning view of the San Gabriel mountains in this Tiny Desk quarantine video.
-
The Iranian-Dutch singer and producer performs four songs during her Tiny Desk quarantine set.
-
The leader of Big Thief performs five songs from a camper in Joshua Tree for our Tiny Desk quarantine series.
-
The talented Canadian composer and songwriter creates an ensemble in their bedroom for our Tiny Desk quarantine series.
-
British folk singer Shirley Collins is a living legend. Watch her perform five songs for her Tiny Desk quarantine concert.
-
Phish bassist Mike Gordon and guitarist Leo Kottke perform a magical Tiny Desk quarantine show, with a little help from Phish drummer Jon Fishman.
-
The pop-meet-classical duo perform a quarantine concert from their New York City apartment.
-
Wayne Coyne has been preparing for this era of social distancing for 10 years. Watch The Flaming Lips perform in bubbles for our Tiny Desk quarantine series.