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Greetings Everyone: This message is a (somewhat belated) response to Michael's request that the editors introduce themselves to the list. First, I would like to add to Gavin's note my own thanks to Michael for getting this list off the ground. I'm told that there are already about 100 subscribers, so clearly he has identified a need. I am particularly excited about the list because I think it offers us an opportunity to speak across the genre boundaries that I find have limited my own reading and writing (and the bibliographies have already been helpful in this regard). I am currently a Postdoctoral Teaching Scholar at the Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society at the University of Louisville, where I teach women's studies and popular music. I have co-edited with Kristine McCusker (also an editor of this list), _A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music_, a collection of essays about the ways social constructions of masculinity and femininity have shaped the production and consumption of country music. I've just completed a manuscript for Duke University Press that explores the changing cultural meanings attached to country music's commercialism between 1920 and 1975 (though the emphasis is on the last two decades of that period). My contention is that, rather than viewing commercialism as the transparent opposite of authenticity, we should imagine is as a complementary discourse conveying similarly rich cultural meanings, shaped by similarly complex social negotiations, and producing similarly powerful effects on perceptions of country and its audiences. I am also beginning to assemble a reader on African American participation in country music. My aim is not so much to identify the impact of African American artists and musical traditions on white artists as it is to discuss the direct involvement of black artists, songwriters, entrepreneurs, and audiences in country music. I would be interested in hearing any feedback list members care to offer: thoughts about existing lacunae in the literature, theoretical problems in approaching race and racial interchange in country music (or southern music more generally), what you would want so see in a collection that sought to be relatively comprehensive on the topic, whether such a collection will simply reinforce ghettoization, etc. If you have an article or proposal that you would like to submit for consideration, you can feel free to respond to me off-list as well. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed bibliographies and announcements to the list. I look forward to continuing discussion with everyone! Best regards, Diane Pecknold
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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