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More Songs Considered
NPR music guru picks five artists you should know
BOB BOILEN started in news production at National Public Radio, then went on to cohost All Songs Considered, one of the most listened-to music podcasts, and help launch the uber-popular Tiny Desk Concerts series, where musicians performed at his workspace.
Boilen, 70, retired from NPR in October 2023 and now hosts a weekly radio program called My Tiny Morning Show for TakomaRadio.org. He still seeks out new music, so we asked him to make recommendations.
1. boygenius, a rock trio consisting of singers Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. “In the way that Crosby, Stills & Nash were artists who all had their own thing going, these three artists are super popular these days in the world of independent rock music.”
2. Ólafur Arnalds, an Icelandic composer and pianist. Boilen recommends Some Kind of Peace, released in 2020. “I am a big lover of quiet music. He worked with an engineer to design this software that reacts to what he’s playing in real time, and it’s stunning stuff. Just beautiful.”
3. Regina Spektor. “Great storyteller. She has a sense of humor, which I love. Home, Before and After (2022) is the album I’d recommend.”
4. ALA.NI, a London-born singer. “Stunning voice, really sultry. Kind of Billie Holiday–ish. She cut an album in 2017 called You & I, and I really love that record.”
5. Joan Shelley, a Kentucky-based folk musician. He most likes her 2015 album Over and Even. “She reminds me of Sandy Denny. People who loved British folk music from the ’60s and ’70s may come to love Joan Shelley.” —Jeffrey Lee Puckett