Robin Hilton

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

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 Blog

3:07 pm

Tue May 22, 2012

Old Music Tuesday: Black Sabbath's 'Vol. 4'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

By Robin Hilton

All Songs Considered Blog

11:48 am

Tue May 22, 2012

Vote For The Albums Everyone Can Love, For May 22

Credit iStock

By Robin Hilton

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 1:00 pm

Is it possible to make a top ten list of albums everyone can agree on? With your help, we're going to try!

Each week, now through the summer, we're asking you to give us a thumbs up or thumbs down on a list of records. Just tell us in the survey below whether you do or don't love the record.

And, of course, in the comments section below, tell us what albums you think we should include in future surveys. We hope to use the results to compile a list of the ten most universally loved records by sometime in August.

Live in Concert

12:53 pm

Thu May 17, 2012

Live On May 31: Regina Spektor In Concert

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Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012, only stepped away from the piano for two songs.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor was joined by keyboardist Brad Whiteley to perform stripped-down versions of her songs.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Cellist Yoed Nir also joined Regina Spektor on stage.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Regina Spektor, performing live at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, May 31, 2012.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Fans gather outside Le Poisson Rouge in New York City for the Regina Spektor performance.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

Fans gather outside Le Poisson Rouge in New York City for the Regina Spektor performance.

Credit Gisel Figallo-Florez for NPR

The set at Le Poisson Rouge was decorated with strings of multi-colored lights.

By Robin Hilton

Originally published on Sun May 12, 2013 7:29 pm

Regina Spektor has spent much of the past decade perfecting an oddly lovely mix of sweet melodies, piano-driven pop, flashes of experimentalism, and cheery but wistful ruminations on love and heartache. But Spektor writes and performs with the passion of punk, and her otherwise innocent story-songs take unconventional turns.

All Songs Considered Blog

12:53 pm

Thu May 17, 2012

Want To See Regina Spektor In Concert?

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Credit Courtesy of the artist

Credit

By Robin Hilton

Originally published on Thu May 17, 2012 7:28 pm

On May 31, we'll live webcast and broadcast a concert by Regina Spektor from New York's Le Poisson Rouge. You'll be able to watch the whole thing live on NPR Music and via our apps as it's happening, beginning at 10 p.m. ET.

But if you're in New York City on the night of the show and want to go, we've got free tickets for you. Tickets are very limited, so grab one for you and a guest while you can on a first-come, first-served basis.

All Songs Considered Blog

2:19 pm

Tue May 15, 2012

Old Music Tuesday: Neil Young's 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

By Robin Hilton

Originally published on Tue May 15, 2012 2:51 pm

First Listen

9:33 pm

Sun May 6, 2012

First Listen: Exitmusic, 'Passage'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Exitmusic's new album, Passage, comes out May 22.

By Robin Hilton

Originally published on Wed June 20, 2012 2:52 pm

Audio for this feature is no longer available.

Passage, the first full-length album from Brooklyn's Exitmusic, is a dark, sludgy beast of a record that slithers before it strikes. It broods and rumbles, full of anger and anguish and loneliness, before erupting in a squall of tortured release. It's mostly bleak and intensely emotional, but also beautiful.

All Songs Considered Blog

3:58 pm

Tue May 1, 2012

Old Music Tuesday: Vic Chesnutt's 'Aunt Avis'

Credit Jem Cohen

By Robin Hilton

I haven't been able to listen to Vic Chesnutt's music much since he took his own life on Christmas Day, 2009. It's just been too heartbreaking. But on a recent, chilly Spring night in D.C. I had my iPod on random and Vic's song "Aunt Avis" came up. It was one of those seemingly innocuous moments when you're off in your own little world and something hits you out of the blue.

Live in Concert

10:22 am

Mon April 30, 2012

Live Thursday: fun. In Concert

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Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

Credit John Rose for NPR

fun. perform at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2012.

By Robin Hilton

Originally published on Fri May 4, 2012 10:08 am

Few bands ever enjoy the kind of success fun. (yes, it's all lowercase, with a period) has experienced since its ridiculously catchy single "We Are Young" caught fire earlier this year. The song, a wistful but celebratory take on coming of age, was featured on the TV show Glee, appeared in a Super Bowl ad for Chevy and has sold millions of copies, turning the once-obscure indie-pop group into one of the most adored bands of the year.

All Songs Considered Blog

11:04 am

Thu April 26, 2012

What Is This Thing?

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Credit NPR

Credit NPR

By Robin Hilton

So I'm going through my stack of mail like I always do, not suspecting anything out of the ordinary, when I open a small envelope postmarked from somewhere in Australia and find this strange card in it.

No letter. No explanation. Just this strange card. I turned it around in my hands for a bit before handing it over to NPR Music Producer Daoud Tyler-Ameen. He went to Yale so of COURSE he figured it out in a matter of seconds.

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