Selected Publications

“The Singing Man,” an essay for Southern Cultures. Fall 2021.

A review of “Hank Williams – Pictures from Life’s Other Side: The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings,” in the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal, Fall 2020.

“Beyond the Sea,” an essay about music in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in the 1950s, in the Oxford American’s 2019 Southern Music Issue Number 20.

“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. Named among the “Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction of 2018” in Best American Essays 2019.

“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 the Spring 2017 Boulevard.

“Put On My Clothes and Look Like Somebody Else,” an article about North Carolina blues guitarist John Henry “Guitar Shorty” Fortescue, in the Oxford American‘s 2016 Southern Music Issue No. 18.

“Word is Born,” an article about gospel music in the Carolinas, in The Wire’s Issue 394, Spirits Rejoice!

“Neap Tide,” a short story in the Winter 2015/2016 New Haven Review.

“Life and Death of the Father of Modern Miniature Golf,” an essay in the Winter 2015/2016 Southern Review.

“Photographs of Music,” a photo essay in the Winter 2015/2016 Ecotone.

Lead Kindly Light: Pre-War Music and Photographs From the American South, co-authored with Peter Honig, and co-produced with Peter Honig and Lance Ledbetter; a book-CD set of early Southern photography from Sarah Bryan’s collection and pre-War 78 rpm Southern recordings from the collection of Peter Honig. 2014, Dust-to-Digital.

African American Music Trails, A collaboration between the North Carolina Arts Council, North Carolina Folklife Institute, and many musicians in the region to create a visitor’s guide to the heritage of African American music in Eastern North Carolina. Coauthored with Beverly Patterson and Michelle Lanier. 2013, UNC Press.

An untitled essay about Depression- and Prohibition-era country music,introducing Disc 2 (“Play Hard”) of the three-disc set Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard, produced by Nathan Salsburg and released on the Tompkins Square label. Fall, 2012.

“Bless Her Heart,” an essay about mothers in early country, gospel, and blues music, in book/CD set Never a Pal Like Mother: Vintage Songs and Photographs of the One Who’s Always True, with forward by Rosanne Cash. In addition to the essay, I contributed many of the antique vernacular photographs included in the book. Dust-to-Digital, May 2011.

An untitled article on Mexican migrant farmworkers’ celebrations of Day of the Dead in North Carolina.  Sampson (NC) Independent, November 28, 2003.

“Se me dificulta nada, porque me gusta: Cocina tradicional de México en el este de Norte Carolina” (“I Don’t Find it Difficult, Because I Like It: Traditional Mexican Cooking in Eastern North Carolina”).  La Conexión, September 30, 2003.

“Tradiciones de la patria,” (“Homeland Traditions”), an article about sacred traditions of Mexican dance in North Carolina.  Acento Latino, July 29, 2003.

Cuban and Cuban-American Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture, a finding aid to Library of Congress field recordings of music and folk narrative from Cuba, co-authored with Kenneth G. Schweitzer. Archive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress, August 2000.

North Carolina Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture, co-authored with Laura Bovilsky and Ronan Peterson.Archive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress.

Georgia Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture, co-authored with Christy Chason, Daniel P. Horvath, Alexander F. Sheriff, and Leah S. Stauber. Archive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress.