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Gregory Alan Isakov, 'Amsterdam'

There's a climactic passage, near the end of Gregory Alan Isakov's "Amsterdam," that's punctuated by a moment in a glorious piece of stop-motion animation by Laura Goldhamer. I won't spoil it with description, but I understand how it took her a month and a half to create it. Here are Isakov's words:

Churches and trains
They all look the same to me now
They shoot you someplace
While we ache to come home somehow

"Amsterdam" is from Isakov's album The Weatherman and, like many of his songs, is inspired by his travels — to the Netherlands in this case. You can hear more of Isakov's plaintive voice and guitar playing during a recent visit to NPR with Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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.