Among other descriptors, I am an archivist, ethnomusicologist, folklorist, audio preservation engineer, curator, and musician.

I received my B.F.A in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College, my M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Indiana University, and my Ph.D. in Folklore and Ethnomusicology with a minor in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University.

I am the audio-visual preservation archivist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison's General Library System and a lecturer in the Mead Witter School of Music. I was a 2019-2020 Morgridge Fellow (working to build equitable, mutually-beneficial campus-community partnerships) and continue my folklore work as a Co-PI on the Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Arts in the Upper Midwest and Nordic Folklife projects. News and updates from those projects can be found at www.folklife.wisc.edu

My research, writing, and teaching interests include Cultural Sustainability, American Vernacular Music, Ethnic American Music, Music and Social Justice, Nordic and Scandinavian Music, Audio-Visual Preservation, and Community Archives and Accessibility. My published works include a monograph by University Press of Mississippi (The Starday Story), and chapters by Oxford University Press (The Oxford Handbook of Country Music) and University of Wisconsin Press (Culture Works: Folklore and Humanities for a 21st Century Public). I am currently revising my dissertation (Performing America and Rebelling in Finland) for publication and recently curated a Special Collections exhibit for Mills Music Library and the Wisconsin Music Archives (Press Play: Recorded Sound from Groove to Stream). The exhibit is on the 9th floor of Memorial Library and is open M-F 9-5:00pm throughout the 2022 fall semester. While at Indiana University, I taught several courses of my own design including Rock Stars With A Cause: Socially Conscious Songwriting, Guitar Cultures Around the World, and International Country Music, and I also served as an Associate Instructor for Music, Identity, and Social Life: Performance and Community Action. At the University of Wisconsin, I have co-taught two summer folklore field schools in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in the Driftless Area as well as a cultural study of music course in the music school on Music Sustainabililty and Revitalization.