Christopher J. Smith is Associate Professor and Chair of Musicology, and director of the Vernacular Music Center, at Texas Tech University. His research interests are in American and African-American music, 20th century music, Irish traditional music, music and politics, and historical performance. He records and tours internationally with Altramar medieval music ensemble and has lectured or performed at hundreds of colloquia, concerts, workshops, and pub sessions across the Continent and in Europe. His current book project is Minstrelsy and the Creolization of American Culture (Illinois), an examination of Afro-Celtic musical exchange before the American Civil War. He is also a published poet.