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SXSW 2016 Music Preview

Clockwise from upper left: Dirty Dishes, The Overcoats, Gallant, Billie Marten, KAO=S
Courtesy of the artists
Clockwise from upper left: Dirty Dishes, The Overcoats, Gallant, Billie Marten, KAO=S

It's that time of year again! This week is March Madness for music lovers: South By Southwest. The annual music festival in Austin, Texas is a treasure trove of exciting new music to enjoy and brilliant artists to discover. For this week's All Songs Considered, our hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are joined by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Saidah Blount to talk about which bands they are most excited to see for the very first time at SXSW this year.

They listened to around 1800 songs by bands performing in the multi-day music spree and whittled the list down to 17 for this week's show, including the annual "Secret SX Santa" round, where each host gets to take control of one other team member's schedule and assign a band they have to see while in Austin.

Head over to our SXSW page for NPR Music's full coverage of this year's festival. And stay tuned to our social media for updates, announcements and late-night dispatches from Bob, Robin and the All Songs team at SXSW.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Robin Hilton
Robin Hilton is the Senior Podcast Producer for NPR Music and hosts the New Music Friday episodes of All Songs Considered. He is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose original scores have appeared in podcasts, films, radio programs and other works. He arranged and performed the theme for NPR's Weekend All Things Considered and composed and performed its elections coverage theme. You can hear more of his music here.
Bob Boilen
In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.