Bob Boilen

Sometime years from now I may be asked: What was your favorite day at NPR? I am likely to say it's the day Dan Deacon got the NPR staff worked up into a giant dance party! It's also the day Deacon and staff wheeled in an upright piano ...

Forty years ago this week, Led Zeppelin released the band's monumental sixth album, the double LP Physical Graffiti. It was, as guitarist Jimmy Page himself tells us in this interview, "the mother of all double albums," with some of the band's most memorable songs, including "Kashmir," "Houses Of The ...

It may be freezing on the east coast, but on All Songs Considered this week, we've got the hottest tracks to keep you out of the cold.

At the top, North Dakota songwriter Tom Brosseau tells a heartbreaking story about a boy abandoned by his mother. Patrick Watson returns with ...

With her huge voice and an assist from talented trombonist Daniel Walter Eaton, Zola Jesus presented a curious combination at the Tiny Desk — a combination I hardly ever encounter. Having seen her mostly with a big and powerful band, I wondered if this configuration would work. But it ...

More than ever, we are a creative culture. A simple shout out to participate in our Tiny Desk Concert Contest deluged us with almost 7,000 video entries. And the quality of those entries — not simply the technical quality but the quality of idea and imagination — was boundless. We ...

"They call me the hard luck boy," Tom Brosseau says at the top of his enchanting new album, later adding, "It all happened a very long time ago, when I was just a boy. My mother took me on what she called 'a little shopping trip' four or five ...

It may seem odd to have two American banjo players perform an ancient Chinese folk tune to welcome the new year, but once you hear it you're likely to be enchanted. This duo, Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck, two of America's best players, have a passion ...

The beauty of the Tiny Desk lies, at least partially, in the limitations of size and technology. We rarely amplify voices, for example, so for a band like Until The Ribbon Breaks, the challenge becomes how to take a loud electronic sound down to a volume where singer Pete Lawrie-Winfield ...

This week on All Songs Considered we reflect on age and time, how we make sense of the world as we all grow older, and how it all ties in to the artist who opens this week's show: Sufjan Stevens. Stevens has been busy with numerous projects since releasing his ...

SOAK is the music of eighteen-year-old Bridie Monds-Watson from Derry, Ireland. I love the simplicity in her music and puzzling out the images in this song, "Sea Creatures." At one moment I think it's a love song, with lines like:

When they tell you they love you,
They don't ...

I'll be online at reddit.com/r/music on Wednesday, February 11, 1 to 2 p.m. EST, answering your questions. I'm a little scared because you can actually ask me anything. It will be kind of a Tiny Desk Concert (intimate, awkward) but I'm sure we'll have fun.

In case you ...

In honor of Valentine's Day, we asked our listeners to name their ideal romantic song. After receiving over a thousand replies, we tallied the results, listened, swooned (and sometimes scratched our heads). On this week's show, Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton count down the top 10 and share a couple ...

Paperhaus is my kind of guitar band, with power in the lyricism instead of just the chords. Its music can be jarring and jagged, but Paperhaus can also sound dreamy the way groups like Television could, with lilt and grit. These are long songs that take twists and turns of ...

The visual: A clown past her prime. The words: "Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint you."

Welcome to 2015 and the year many will fall in love with the best lyricist in rock music today, Courtney Barnett. Now that I've put her on the pedestal I'll say ...

On this week's All Songs Considered we hear from some favorite veteran artists and incredible newcomers, including Modest Mouse's first new record in eight years, Death Cab for Cutie's first record made with an outside producer, and the shattering young psychedelic rockers Sunflower Bean.

I've basically stopped going to concerts. For me, this is kind of like I've stopped eating or sleeping. If you're looking for me these days, you can find me at my computer, watching musicians play their heart out for a chance to perform at NPR's Tiny Desk. After ...

It's easy to listen to Asaf Avidan and not know if you're listening to a female singer from long ago or a guy singing 21st-century pop songs. Avidan is a bestselling 34-year-old singer from Israel who is little known in the U.S. This record, Gold Shadow, is likely to ...

Have you ever felt alone in a big city? Have you ever seen pain on a stranger's face but couldn't figure out a way to acknowledge or ease it? Orenda Fink's video for "Holy Holy" speaks to the pain of mourning and the beauty of empathy toward strangers. The song ...

The songs of Elliott Smith are widely revered — especially by those who came of age in the '90s — but a new generation of listeners is only beginning to discover him. Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith is likely to expose new fans to the ...