Pop Conference 2016

Tyina Steptoe is an assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Arizona. Her research examines race, gender, and culture in the 20th century U.S. She is the author of Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City, which was published by the University... Read More →

Holly George-Warren is the award-winning author of more than a dozen books, including biographies of Gene Autry and Alex Chilton. She is the co-editor of American Roots Music and Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: An American Journey, among numerous collaborative volumes. Currently... Read More →

Keith Harris is a music critic and immigration attorney who lives in Minneapolis. These days he mostly writes for Rolling Stone and City Pages. He also tweets as @useful_noise and blogs at usefulnoise.wordpress.com. “Accidental Post-Racism in a Southern Voice: What Country Music Did and Didn't Say as the Age of Obama Began”In 2008, Barack Obama was elected president and Darius Rucker became the first African American singer to top the Billboard country charts in 25 years. A year later, Tim McGraw hit number one with “Southern Voice... Read More →

Charlie McGovern directs the American Studies Program at William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He wrote Sold American Consumption and Citizenship in American Life, 1890-1945 (North Carolina), and he co-founded the Duke University Press series Refiguring American Music. He’s at work... Read More →