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A clawhammer banjo player and a scholar of Appalachian old-time and bluegrass music that focuses on women, Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley was the natural choice to write Unlikely Angel – The Songs of Dolly Parton.

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley was recently featured in Biography: Dolly Parton, a 90-minute documentary that aired earlier this month on A&E.

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley was recently interviewed for a Dutch newspaper article on the surging popularity in recent years of Dolly Parton and her music.

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley recently presented “‘Coat of Many Colors’: Dolly Parton’s Memory Palace of Healing” at the Feminist Theory and Music Conference at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

“That’s a woman at work,” Steve Buckingham, renowned music producer, said as he shared a photograph of Dolly Parton from her first day of recording the album The Grass Is Blue. As Buckingham clicked through the images of himself, Parton, and the work they did together, the audience listened to the tales with the respect that Buckingham seemed to reserve for Parton. His talk on Feb. 26 offered a look into both the world of music production and Parton’s iconic career.

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley recently presented a paper titled “Elizabethan Traces in Appalachia? How Critics (Mis)Understand Dolly Parton’s Songs and Voice” at the national meeting of the Society for American Music in Kansas City, Mo.

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley presented a paper titled “Elizabethan Traces in Appalachia? How Critics (Mis)Understand Dolly Parton’s Songs and Voice,” at the national meeting of the American Musicological Society (AMS).

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley recently participated in an online panel hosted by Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

As an Appalachian old-time banjo and fiddler, Jake Blount ’17 has just finished recording an EP with fellow fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves that will be released in June. This summer he will work on a full-length album with his band, the Moose Whisperers; in the winter, he and his band plan to tour Scandinavia.

Professor of Music Lydia Hamessley recently presented a talk at the New England Chapter Meeting of the American Musicological Society (AMS-NE) at Smith College.