Department of English

Academic Specialty:

• Folklore: Roots of Mountain Music (African Roots of the Banjo; Ballad Keepers)
• Appalachian Culture & Literature
• 20th C American Literature

Education:

• Duke University English, BA & MA
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD.

Selected Publications:

• African Roots of Old Time Banjo & Fiddle Media Lecture with live music, Center for Black Music Research, Chicago & VFH, Charlottesville, 2005-6, 2008.
• Mountain Banjo and Dulcimer Maker Clifford Glenn Video. BRFI, NEA, NCAC, ASU, NC Tourism Office, 2004-8
• My Old Fiddle: A Visit with Tommy Jarrell (w Les Blank) Anthologized on Oxford American Magazine's 1st DVD, 2007. (NEA, NC Film & Flower Film Project, 1994.)
• Mountain Banjos, African Roots, and Influences Exhibit, Guest Curator, Appalachian Cultural Museum & 1st Ever Black Banjo Gathering, Co-Organizer (April 7-10, 2005)
• Robert Morgan's Lucid Poetry Video, Cane Creek & ASU.
• Black Banjo Songsters of NC and VA CD & notes [Co-] Producer, Smithsonian Folkways, NEA, 1998
• African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia. U of Tennessee Press & American Folklore Society, 1995

Awards & Grants:

• 2010 Project Director for National Endowment for the Arts grant for Black Banjo Gathering Reunion & More
• 2009 Fellow in Residence at International Center for Jefferson Studies, Monticello, NEH African Roots Seminar, VFH, Charlottesville, VA
• 2008-9 ASU Foundation Fellow
• 2008 Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Fellow
• 2005-present African Roots of Old Time Fiddle & Banjo Video, NEA, $20,000.
• Black Banjo Songster CD #2, SF (VFH, NCAC, ASU, NEH, NEA).
• Black Banjo Gathering 2005 Video, BRFI, NEA, NCHC, NCAC
• Black Banjo Songster Rufus Kasey Video, w E. Simon. BRFI, VFH, & ASU

To reserve copies of the following videos or films, email conwayec@email.unc.edu

• Black Banjo Gathering 2005 Video (BRFI, NEA, NCHC, NCAC)
• Mountain Banjo & Dulcimer Maker Clifford Glenn Video (BRFI, NEA, NCAC, ASU)
• Rick Ward: Beech Mountain Banjo (NCAC)
• Carolina Chocolate Drops: Apprentices of Fiddler Joe Thompson Become Rising Stars (NCAC)

Black & Global Banjo Roots Concerts emerging website:  blackandglobalbanjorootsconcerts.com

WYNC Radio Show featuring Black Banjo Gathering Artists: http://newsarchive.appstate.edu/2010/03/11/black-banjo-gathering-reunion-held-march-24-27-at-appalachian/

2010 Black Banjo Gathering: http://newsarchive.appstate.edu/2010/03/11/black-banjo-gathering-reunion-held-march-24-27-at-appalachian/

Black Banjo, Blues & Jazz (PDF, 477 KB)