Levin served as the first executive director of the Silk Road Project, an initiative of the American cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Since then, he has written several books, including The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York) (first published in 1996).
Levin's first book, The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York), was published by Indiana University Press in 1996.
Levin's second book, Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond, was first published by Indiana University Press in 2006.
The project received the 2017 Public Outreach Award of the Central Eurasian Studies Society as well as the 2018 RUSA Dartmouth Medal for Excellence in Reference.
In particular, Levin produced the 1990 CD Tuva: Voices from the Center of Asia, which is the first commercial recording of Tuvan music released in the West.
Additionally, Levin and the French ethnomusicologist Jean During produced the two-CD set The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan, which was released in 2001.