Emily Ruth Allen, Ph.D.

Latest Updates

It’s been a busy few months! I’m excited to share a few creative works I’ve developed in the last few months:

I’m excited to launch my “Southern Sounds of Celebration” special series for the Take on the South Podcast! Check out my five-part series on the Worm Gruntin’ Festival in Sopchoppy, Florida:
- “Southern Sounds of Celebration: Introduction to the Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABgCYNjK_Vc&t=401s
- “Southern Sounds of Celebration: Vendors of the Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O3vajnpTOk&t=85s
- “Southern Sounds of Celebration: Florida Sounds at the Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pfqk-FGDbw&t=10s
- “Southern Sounds of Celebration: Crowning the Worm Gruntin’ Queen.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plMm8OGTUFA&t=14s
- “Southern Sounds of Celebration: I Did It All at the Worm Grunters’ Ball.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-tcneLDetU
Check out my article “Sonic Celebration in Mobile’s Alabama’s Port City Secondliners and the Jukebox Brass Band” here.
Here are some of my more typical interview-based podcast episodes I’ve done recently:
- Sarah Waheed. “Islam’s Hidden History,” Take on the South, March 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IylONlkV-SA&t=707s
- Mark Smith. “Firing Squad History,” Take on the South, March 2025. https://youtu.be/K52hUeOW9QA?si=UTcq9-yehubSyKDu
- Julie Malnig. “Dancing Black, Dancing White: Rock ‘n’ Roll, Race, and Youth Culture of the 1950s and Early 1960s,” New Books Network. April 2025. https://newbooksnetwork.com/dancing-black-dancing-white
- Chloe Smith. “Minstrel Tunes and Confederate Anthems,” Take on the South, May 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UklBqfEt8Us

4. I was recently featured on the Folkwise podcast! It was such a great conversation. Check out the interview here.

Latest Podcast Episodes

Between the New Books Network and Take on the South podcasts, I’ve recorded a few episodes with several amazing scholars and students over the last few months! Take a listen:

For the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing colleagues for two podcasts in which I am now involved, Take on the South and the New Books Network. Take a listen to some of my latest episodes (and subscribe to the series!):

Review of musicology podcasts

My review of musicology podcasts (which also includes tips for academic podcasting!) is now available in the Journal of Musicological Research: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HTABRGCNHE3KEQDCAREK/full?target=10.1080/01411896.2023.2190298

Journal article about Mobile, Alabama’s Excelsior Band

My dissertation chapter on Mobile’s Excelsior Band has now been published as an article in the Alabama Folklife Association’s journal Tributaries. It’ll be online and open-access eventually, but in the meantime you can buy a copy of the journal for $12: https://www.alabamafolklife.org/shop/p/tributaries-16

Review of Murray Talks Music

My review of Paul Devlin’s Murray Talks Music: Albert Murray on Jazz and Blues is now available in the latest issue of The Bulletin of the Society for American Music: https://www.american-music.org/page/BulletinCurrent

Review of After the Dance, the Drums are Heavy

I had the pleasure of reviewing one of my favorite books for the Oral History Journal. Check out my review of Rebecca Dirksen’s After the Dance, the Drums are Heavy: https://www.ohs.org.uk/reviews/after-the-dance-the-drums-are-heavy-carnival-politics-and-musical-engagement-in-haiti/?fbclid=IwAR2Uea-U3A2mcghsw-vL8iSACH3y_0bSn-wLlm8Ii2gk6Rk1pIdhusMeopI

Interview with Music Journalism Insider!

I was recently interviewed by Todd Burns of Music Journalism Insider! Honored and flattered to be invited. You can read the interview here for free until April 18, 2022: https://www.musicjournalisminsider.com/archive/emily-ruth-allen-interview/

A Look Back At The Last Few Months!

I’m pleased to share that I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation, “Brass B(r)ands in Mobile, Alabama’s Mardi Gras,” so I am now officially Dr. Emily Ruth Allen!

I have also released a few new New Books Network episodes in the latter half of 2021, which you can find here: https://newbooksnetwork.com//hosts/profile/d0e36e2b-c234-46cb-a7a5-f2ed5110141e

Finally, my first journal article, co-authored with Dr. Isabel Machado, can be found here: https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/91

Looking forward to seeing what’s next as Dr. Allen!

Summer 2021 NBN Episodes!

I am pleased to share the New Books Network episodes I completed over the summer of 2021! Take a listen:

Katrina Phillips, Staging Indigeneity: Salvage Tourism and the Performance of Native American History (UNC Press, 2021)

Cécile Fromont, Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition (Penn State, 2019)

Alessandro Testa, Rituality and Social (Dis)Order: The Historical Anthropology of Popular Carnival in Europe (Routledge, 2020)

Candace Bailey, Unbinding Gentility: Women Making Music in the Nineteenth-Century South (U Illinois Press, 2021)

Mark A. Johnson, Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacles, 1877-1932 (UP of Mississippi, 2021)

Jill P. Ingram, Festive Enterprise: The Business of Drama in Medieval and Renaissance England (U Notre Dame Press, 2021)

In Concert – Phil Auslander Interview

Check out my latest New Books in Music episode with Dr. Philip Auslander, focusing on his book In Concert: Performing Musical Persona: https://newbooksnetwork.com/in-concert

NB in Music: Chronicling Stankonia

I had the pleasure of recently talking with Dr. Regina N. Bradley about her new book Chronicling Stankonia: The Rise of the Hip-hop South. Link to episode: https://newbooksnetwork.com/chronicling-stankonia