Hello. Welcome to H-Southern-Music. My name is Michael Bertrand, and I am one
of the online editors of this list. I am an assistant professor of history at
Tennessee State University in Nashville. My teaching and scholarship are
reflective of a long-standing commitment to understanding the various
interrelationships between race, class, gender, generation, and sense of place,
particularly as they have existed and evolved in the American South. I am
especially interested in the way music has intersected, expressed, and shaped
those linkages. The University of Illinois recently published a 2nd (paperback)
edition of my book, Race, Rock, and Elvis.



I am a native of south Louisiana, and I grew up in a working-class family and
household where music played a very large role in defining and explaining the
world in which we lived. I remember very well the phonograph record player and
juke box; they often resided in the foreground of our daily existence. In
college and graduate school, my professors introduced me to the great southern
historians: Woodward, Degler, Tindall, Eaton, Scott, Franklin, and a host of
others. I learned and am still learning much from them about my native region.
Yet few seemed to capture the musical essence of the community in which I
matured. Encountering Bill Malone's Country Music U.S.A. literally changed my
life. He proved that someone with aspirations to give a musical voice to
ordinary southerners could actually become a professional historian. Since then
I have endeavored to comprehend the complex connections and dynamics between
popular music, culture, and social change in the 20th century South.



Much has changed in the historical profession since I first read Malone's
pioneering work. In many ways, however, it seems that much has not. While
popular music scholarship has definitely grown in the last fifteen years or so,
many historians in academe still treat music as if it lay on the periphery of
people lives, a sentimental souvenir best left in the attic among other
personal yet ultimately inconsequential mementos. One of the goals of
H-Southern-Music's creators is to change that perception. We hope to encourage
the serious study and discussion of music as a means to understand fully
southern history and culture. Ultimately, we hope to expand the existing
framework of southern historiography. We believe we can do that by
incorporating thoughtful examinations of the region's music.



In the upcoming weeks, H-Southern-Music will be publishing to the list
autobiographical statements from several of our advisory board members. We hope
that their recollections on how they became involved in music scholarship serve
as an inspiration to other list members. Please feel free to respond to their
reminiscences, and also to give us your own stories as to how and why you
engage music as a serious academic subject. We're attempting to build a
community of scholars. If you have the time, we would like for you to provide a
brief introductory message about yourself that would be posted to the list.



We have several projects lined up for the near future, so stay tuned. We will
be sending out announcements. Again, welcome to H-Southern-Music. Thanks for
being a part of what we think will be a great list.



Sincerely,

Michael T. Bertrand

Online Editor, H-Southern-Music

Humanities & Social
Sciences Online

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