Robin Hilton

Robin Hilton is the producer and co-host for the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.

In addition to his work on All Songs, Hilton produces NPR Music live concerts and festival coverage across the country, including live broadcasts and webcasts from the Bonnaroo and Sasquatch festivals, South by Southwest and the Newport Folk Festival.

Prior to joining NPR in 2000, Hilton co-founded Small Good Thing Productions, a non-profit production company for independent film, radio and music in Athens, GA.

Hilton lived and worked in Japan as a translator for the government, and taught English as a second language to junior high school students.

From 1989 to 1996, Hilton worked for NPR member stations KANU and WUGA as a senior producer and assistant news director and was a long-time contributing reporter to NPR's daily news programs All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Hilton is a multi-instrumentalist and composer. His original scores have appeared in work from National Geographic, Center Stage and, most recently, in the documentary film Open Secret. You can hear some of his music here.

Along the way, Hilton worked as an emergency room orderly, a blackjack dealer and a fruitcake factory assembly lineman.

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All Songs Considered
2:10 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

First Watch: The Zolas, 'Escape Artist'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 2:39 pm

In "Escape Artist," the new video from Canadian pop duo The Zolas, the band plays around with audience expectations about race, culture and sexuality. As frontman Zach Gray sings about his mysterious alter ego, a group of kids kick around their neighborhood, playing basketball, chatting up girls and passing the hours. One of them clearly feels like an outsider.

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Live in Concert
4:44 pm
Mon February 25, 2013

Live Wednesday: Unknown Mortal Orchestra, With Foxygen

Originally published on Thu February 28, 2013 2:16 pm

  • Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Live From The Rock And Roll Hotel

The psych-rock trio Unknown Mortal Orchestra doused a sold-out Washington, D.C., crowd in an epic wash of guitar noise during an hour-long performance at the Rock and Roll Hotel, recorded and webcast live on Feb. 27.

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All Songs Considered
2:37 pm
Mon February 25, 2013

It's Your Favorite Song: Did You Get It From A Movie?

Credit Courtesy of the Touchstone Pictures
Promotional poster for the 1999 film Rushmore.

Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 1:31 pm

All Songs Considered
1:32 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

First Watch: Field Report, 'I Am Not Waiting Anymore'

Guitarist and singer Chris Porterfield has done a lot of soul searching since his previous band, DeYarmond Edison, broke up in 2006. Other guys in the group went on to start their own projects — Justin Vernon formed Bon Iver, while some of the other members formed Megafaun. Porterfield, meanwhile, hung back in his native Milwaukee and took a job as a student union administrator at Marquette Univeristy.

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All Songs Considered
2:13 pm
Tue February 19, 2013

Watch Kishi Bashi Cover Beirut

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Originally published on Tue February 19, 2013 3:54 pm

Kishi Bashi (who's real name is K Ishibashi) is known for his thrilling live performances, looping and layering his violin and voice to create a symphony of sound. But when he decided to cover "A Sunday Smile," one of his favorite songs by the band Beirut, K went for "real" musicians, captured in this live-in-studio video.

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Tiny Desk Concerts
1:02 pm
Mon February 18, 2013

Night Beds: Tiny Desk Concert

Credit Marie McGrory / for NPR
Night Beds' members perform a Tiny Desk Concert on Feb. 6, 2013.

Winston Yellen didn't start singing until he was 18 — he's 23 now — but he's already got one of 2013's most arresting new voices. As the singer for the country-rock group Night Beds, Yellen often performs a cappella, with tremendous soul and nuance.

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All Songs Considered
12:03 pm
Thu February 14, 2013

First Watch: Depeche Mode, 'Heaven'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Originally published on Fri February 15, 2013 9:58 am

The English rock group Depeche Mode owned a chunk of the '80s and '90s with glossy electro-rock hits like "People Are People" and "Personal Jesus." These days the band doesn't have much to prove, and its members, who appear in this new video for the song "Heaven," seem to find themselves at peace, bathed in the radiant glow of light and love.

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All Songs Considered
11:12 am
Wed February 13, 2013

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Added To NPR Music's SXSW Showcase, Live Broadcast Announced

Credit Courtesy of the artist
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' only SXSW appearance takes place at NPR Music's showcase at Stubb's in Austin, Texas, on March 13.

Originally published on Wed February 13, 2013 3:02 pm

We're thrilled to announce that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been added to the bill for our official South by Southwest showcase on March 13. The band joins Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for the concert, which will be broadcast on NPR stations across the country and streamed live as a video webcast here from Stubb's in Austin, Texas. The concert will also appear in the NPR Music apps.

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All Songs Considered
6:03 am
Wed February 13, 2013

First Watch: Maps & Atlases, 'Fever'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Originally published on Wed February 13, 2013 10:25 am

The deeply disturbed character who appears in the latest Maps & Atlases video, for the song "Fever," may not live to see tomorrow. As the Chicago-based band sings about holding on in our darkest hours, "The Man" slowly wastes away, addicted to a mysterious drug.

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All Songs Considered
1:54 pm
Wed February 6, 2013

Hear Lisa Hannigan Cover Nick Drake For A New Tribute Album

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Lisa Hannigan performs in one of several live concerts for a new tribute album, Way to Blue: The Songs of Nick Drake.

Veteran producer Joe Boyd says he'd long resisted putting together some sort of tribute album for his late friend, the legendary folksinger Nick Drake. But he finally decided to make one when Boyd realized that the recordings could be captured in a live concert. "In my opinion, the only way to make a tribute record work is to get everyone together in the same place so there's a unity of sound and spirit," he tells us in an email.

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