Sarah Bryan, a writer and UNC-trained folklorist (MA, 2003), has worked in the field of folklife documentation for nearly two decades. She serves as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Folklife Institute, Editor of the Old-Time Herald, and Editor of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal.

Specializing in the cultural heritage of the American South, Sarah has conducted documentary work for a variety of organizations including the North Carolina Folklife Institute, the North Carolina Arts Council, South Carolina Arts Commission, and Levine Museum of the New South.

Sarah is the coauthor of the books Lead Kindly Light (with Peter Honig, Dust-to-Digital, 2014) and African American Music Trails of Eastern North Carolina (with Beverly Patterson and Michelle Lanier, UNC Press, 2014).

Please click here for résumé and project history, and here for photo portfolio.

Please click here for a complete list of publications.
 

Recent publications:

“Really is Hard to Beat,” an article about Kinston, North Carolina’s heritage of funk music, in the Oxford American’s 2018 20th Southern Music Issue

“Thelytoky,” an essay in the Fall 2018 Potomac Review.

“Life and Death of the Father of Modern Miniature Golf,” an essay published in the Winter 2016/2017 Southern Review, received a Special Mention in the 2017 Pushcart Prizes.

“The Booger,” a short story, in Boulevard, Spring 2017.

The Old-Time Herald is a quarterly magazine about old-time string band music, from or in the traditions of the American South. Published by the nonprofit Old-Time Music Group, the OTH was founded in 1987 in Galax, Virginia, by Alice Gerrard. Now based in Durham, North Carolina, we are celebrating our 32nd year of publication.