Bob Boilen

Deqn Sue rose above a crowd of close to 7,000 entries and almost won our Tiny Desk Concert Contest earlier this year. I so loved her song and her performance of "Magenta" that I invited Deqn Sue — along with her producer, Kelvin Wooten — to my desk to ...

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.

The roots of Mark Ronson's love for classic music run deep. This British-born musician spent ...

I've listened to Eskimeaux's O.K. more than any other record this year. I madly love this music: It's intimate, with abundant joy and sorrow. From that album, "Broken Necks" is a song about two lovers and friends trying to make it all work.

While you were breaking ...

Good luck getting these tunes out of your head.

Host Bob Boilen kicks off this week's All Songs Considered with new music by Pell, a rapper and songwriter who garnered well-deserved attention for his first mixtape, and is back in a big way with production help from TV ...

I first became enchanted with Marian McLaughlin's music when she was searching for ways to mix her quirky classical guitar picking with her equally unusual voice. McLaughlin follows her muse for a sound that occasionally recalls Joanna Newsom or the psychedelic folk music of The Incredible String ...

As technology rules the sound of the day, it's good to be reminded how powerfully a single voice can transmit deep emotion. Joan Shelley made one of the most beautiful records of the year with just her voice and two guitars. Over and Even has roots in

Ari Shapiro started his career as an intern for NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg; he went on to become a White House correspondent, among other high-profile roles. Now, he's one of the hosts of NPR's evening news program All Things Considered. In his spare time, Shapiro also sings with ...

The Watkins Family Hour began a dozen or so years ago as a way for a group of friends to get together and play old and new tunes. For Sean and Sara Watkins, it served as a monthly bit of magic: a musical variety show filled with extraordinary ...

On this week's +1 podcast, we go to Nashville where host Bob Boilen has been making new discoveries at the Americana Music Festival, and attended the Americana Music Awards ceremony. Boilen chats with co-host Robin Hilton about this year's three biggest winners: Lucinda Williams, Sturgill Simpson and

NPR Music is in Nashville all this week for the 16th annual AmericanaFest. So the newest episode of All Songs Considered offers a big bundle of music from some of the acts who are playing the festival that the team is most excited to see. Before leaving D.C., Bob called ...

Are you a musician looking to be heard? If so — or even if you're not — give a listen to the first segment of a new series we're calling The Martin Atkins Minute.

I knew Martin Atkins as a fabulous drummer — for his work with Public Image Ltd., ...

This week's show is split much like some of our favorite records: The A-side is loud and fast. The B-side is slow and quiet.

Co-host Robin Hilton kicks things off with Thunderbitch, a raucous side project from Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard. We quickly follow with bursts of ...

We probably should have shot this Tiny Desk Concert in black-and-white. Listening to Leon Bridges, I hear a sound with its heart and soul rooted in 1962. There's purity in his soulful voice that's unadorned, untouched and unaffected by 21st-century pop.

Still, the songs from this 26-year-old Texas singer ...

If you're a fan of dark, incredibly dry, wry humor, you've just found Happyness. In 2014, I first heard the band sing these words on a stage in New York City, from the song "Montreal Rock Band Somewhere":

I'm wearing Win Butler's hair

There's a scalpless singer

With ...

Today, on our All Songs +1 podcast, we're doing something a bit different. It's a conversation between two people we love, Sharon Van Etten and Mimi Parker from the band Low, about being a mom and being in a rock band.

Mimi and her husband Alan ...

A week ago today we launched our new All Songs Considered 24/7 Music Channel as a way to celebrate the show's tenth anniversary. Since then, we've gotten a number of notes from listeners asking about all the different ways they can tune in. Of course, you can

This conversation with producer John Congleton remains one of our all-time favorite discussions about music, life, and why we love the songs we love. Since we originally posted it in the fall of 2014, Congleton has gone on to produce new albums by Franz Ferdinand And Sparks, ...

Watching Mitski perform at my desk, there are moments when I was worried for her. In her opening song, "Townie," the boys "are driving and they'll be drinking" — and a verse later, Mitski sings of love in ways that feel vengeful, not fruitful.

And I want a ...

We've been a cat free zone for 15 years here on All Songs Considered, but today, for good reason, we break our rule. It's Friday. I'm in a silly mood, and have been since watching this cat video, which has apparently short-circuited my normal news filter.

How did this happen? ...

On this week's All Songs Considered we play a new song from Brazilian Rodrigo Amarante. The song is the backdrop to the opening sequence to a new Netflix original series called Narcos, which rolls out today. It's based on the life of drug lord Pablo Escobar ...