Editors note: I’ve always been a big fan of the music programming on NPR. Since 1988, the music has been directed by Bob Boilen who does a fantastic job of discovering great new songs, sounds and artists, and introducing them to the general public through NPR. —DA Jack Hayford
In 2016 Boilen published his book Your Song Changed My Life, in which he interviews a number of established and up-and-coming music artists including Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Portlandia, Wild Flag), Smokey Robinson, David Byrne (Talking Heads), St. Vincent, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), James Blake, Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), Trey Anastasio (Phish), Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Sturgill Simpson, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Cat Power, Jackson Browne, Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), Philip Glass, Jónsi (Sigur Rós), Hozier, Regina Carter, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes, and others), Courtney Barnett, Chris Thile (Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers), Leon Bridges, Sharon Van Etten, and many more.
In an NPR segment about the book, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page talks about how the song “Rock Island Line” as performed by the Scotland-born Lonnie Donegan was the song that set him on his life-long path of playing, creating and performing.
Is there a song that changed your life?
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