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Kevin Mooney

head shot of Dr. Kevin Mooney

Kevin Mooney, Ph.D. (Senior Lecturer, musicology) holds both a bachelor’s degree in music performance (guitar) and a master’s degree in music education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a doctor of philosophy degree in musicology/ethnomusicology from The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Mooney's current research focuses on jazz history with particular emphasis on the music and careers of vocalist Louise Tobin and clarinetist Peanuts Hucko. Much of his research and writings consider music and identity issues related to American nationalism and southern regionalism. In addition to articles and reviews published in Journal of the Society for American Music, Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition, Notes, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, The Journal of Texas Music History, the Bulletin of the Society for American Music, Great Plains Quarterly, The New Mexico Historical Review, and the Handbook of Texas Music, Dr. Mooney authored the Instructor’s Manual for the past four editions of American Music: A Panorama (New York: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2013). He also currently serves on the editorial boards of the South Central Music Bulletin (College Music Society) and The Journal of Texas Music History (Texas State University).

Prior to his arrival at Texas State University (2007), Dr. Mooney has taught a wide range of courses at College of St. Mary, Omaha, Nebraska, Southwest Texas State University, and at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was associate Chair of the Center for American Music as well as founder and director of the Texas Music Oral History Project. He is a three-time recipient of the “Favorite Professor” award of the Alfred H. Nolle Chapter of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society (2012, 2014, and 2015). In fall 2015 Dr. Mooney launched his new course design of a 100-percent online version of MU 5334 Introduction to Graduate Studies in Music.

From 2008-2011 he served as director of Graduate Studies in Music at Texas State University. As a classical and jazz guitarist, Dr. Mooney has performed in concert with Dizzy Gillespie and David Amram, and has recorded several jazz tracks on Novak and Haar—Old Friends (Ware House Productions, Inc.: Omaha, Nebraska, 2005). He performs regularly with his church group, “The Original Sinners.”

Publications

Review essay on Barry Mazor’s Meeting Jimmie Rodgers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) and Jocelyn Neal’s The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Legacy in Country Music (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009) for Journal of the Society for American Music 8/1 (February 2014): 107-111.

 

Review of Jean A. Boyd’s Dance All Night: Those Other Southwestern Swing Bands (Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 2012) for Journal of the Society for American Music 7/4 (November 2013): 454-456.

 

Author: Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank and Additional Chapter Quizzes for Lorenzo Candelaria and Daniel Kingman, American Music: A Panorama. Fifth Concise Edition. Independence, KY: Cengage Learning, Inc., 2013. [I also wrote earlier editions of this manual for the Fourth Concise Edition, Independence, KY: Cengage Learning, 2011); Third Concise Edition (New York: Thomson-Wadsworth Press, 2006), and the Second Concise Edition (New York: Thomson-Wadsworth Press, 2003).]

 

 “Austin, Texas,” with Hugh C. Sparks, The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition (London: Oxford University Press, (London: Oxford University Press, December 2013).

 

 “Antone, Clifford,” The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition (London: Oxford University Press, December 2012).

 

Review of Thomas A. Adler’s Bean Blossom: The Brown County Jamboree and Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Festivals (Indiana: University of Indiana Press, 2011). Indiana Magazine of History (September 2012): 283-285.

 

Review of Travis D. Stimeling’s Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin’s Progressive Country Music Scene (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011). NOTES: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 68/3 (March 2012): 581-583.

 

 Review of R.A. Lawson’s Jim Crow’s Counterculture: The Blues and Black Southerners, 1890-1945 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010). Southwestern Historical Quarterly 140/3 (January 2012): 318-319.

 

 “Holley, Mary Austin.” Handbook of Texas Music. Edited by Casey Monahan. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 2003. [2nd Edition. Denton: Texas State Historical Association, 2012]

 

“Texas Centennial Music.” Handbook of Texas Music. Edited by Casey Monahan. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 2003. [2nd Edition. Denton: Texas State Historical Association, 2012]

 

“Wick, Otto.” Handbook of Texas Music. Edited by Casey Monahan. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 2003. [2nd Edition. Denton: Texas State Historical Association, 2012]

 

“Louise Tobin” [bio sketch] Tobin Website April 2011 [revision of 2010 bio sketch]

(http://louisetobin.com/full-bio)

 

“Louise Tobin” [bio sketch] All About Jazz 27 April 2010 (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=20111)

 

“Louise Tobin Hucko: A Biographical Sketch.” 2010. Northeast Texas Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. http://dmc.tamuc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ltphjc/id/37

 

Louise Tobin: Changes, Compact Disc liner notes (essay and commentary). Dallas: Mike Kubiak Productions, 2010.

 

Review of Alan Govenar’s Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound (College Station: Texas A&M Univ. Press, 2008). The Journal of Texas Music History, Vol. 9 (2009): 49-50.

 

 “Centennial Songs: Forging a Texas Tradition,” South Central Music Bulletin VII/1 (Fall 2008): 6-19.

 

 Review of Christopher Oglesby’s Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends of West Texas Music (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006). New Mexico Historical Review, Vol 83, No. 4 (Fall 2008): 555-556.

 

Editor: MUSIC: The Music of the Civil War Era, Music Resource Guide, 2007-2008. United States Academic Decathlon. The premier scholastic competition for high school students, 2007.

 

DVD Review of Bluegrass Journey—A Documentary (Germantown, NY: Blue Stores Films, 2004). NOTES The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 63, no. 1 (September 2006): 184-185.

 

Review of The Roots of Texas Music, ed. By Lawrence Clayton and Joe Specht. Great Plains Quarterly 24, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 73.

 

Review of Southern Exposure: The Story of Southern Music in Pictures by Richard Carlin and Bob Carlin. The Journal of Texas Music History 2, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 39.

 

 “Texas Centennial 1936: African-American Texans and the Third National Folk Festival.” The Journal of Texas Music History 1, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 36-43.

 

“Supplement” for the use of Survey of Western Music, Compact Discs to accompany The Creative Impulse. 1st and 2nd Editions. Boston, Mass.: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2001 and 2002.

 

 “Defining Texas Music: Lota May Spell’s Contributions.” Bulletin of the Society for American Music. 26, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 1-6.

 

 

Presentations

 

“Resurrecting the Son: Reinterpreting Goethe’s “Der Erlkönig.” American Musicological Society-Southwest Chapter Conference, September 5, 2014, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. [Invited presentation: The University of Texas at Austin, Musicology/Ethnomusicology Colloquium, October 31, 2014.]

 

A Lecture Recital: The Parisian Salon,” Texas State University, School of Music, September 25, 2012. “Louise Tobin (b. 1918): Documenting Her Place in the History of Jazz.” College Music Society Regional Conference, March 12, 2010, San Antonio, TX.

 

Invited keynote speaker: Texas Music Mini-Conference, Dallas, TX, May 30, 2009. Presentation: “As Big as All of Texas: Overview of Music in the Lone Star State.” Also, Invited presentation: the closing talk of the conference: “Where Do We Go from Here?”

 

“The Gothic Revival, 1800-1870: A Musical Perspective.” 15 September 2007, The Gothic Revival Style in Decorative Arts, Architecture, and Music, The International Festival-Institute at Round Top, Round Top, Texas.

 

“Toward a Historiography of African-American Music in Texas,” 3 November 2006, The Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

 

 “The Texas Centennial, David Guion, and the Emergence of Texas Music,” 16 September 2006, A Salute to the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition: Music, Architecture, Collectibles and Memorabilia, The International Festival-Institute at Round Top, Round Top, Texas.

 

“Instruments of Freedom: Musicians and Social Engagement,” 2 March 2005. Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas.

 

Invited Plenary Speaker: “Texas Music,” 14 February 2003, Music Library Association’s 72nd Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas.