Journal of Texas Music History | Volume 23

Avery Armstrong
received both her B.A. and M.A from Texas State University and focused her graduate studies in Public History and music history. Her Masters thesis, “The Lost Gonzo Band and the Creation of the Live Music Capital of the World: 1960s-1980s”, utilized oral histories to tell the story of the Lost Gonzo Band, who played with Texas progressive country icons such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Martin Murphey in the 1970s. Avery currently works as the Administrative Assistant for the Center for Texas Music History and continues to research Austin’s progressive country scene.

Jason Crouch
is a reference and research librarian at the Alkek Library of Texas State University. He is an El Pasoan who has lived in Austin for the last quarter century. He earned two history degrees at Texas State University, including an M.A. in Public History.  Crouch researches the convergence of popular music, Texas history, and American history.  He also maintains a massive collection of physical music formats and has been the vocalist in a number of rock bands including the New Texicans and Sanchoville.

Rich Kelly
is the author of the 2017 M.A. history thesis “Unintended Consequences: Robert Earl Keen and the Origins of the Texas Country Music Scene,” and he is currently expanding that work on the formation of the Texas Country music scene of the 1990s. He was among the first DJs to put the artists of that scene on the air through his KTSW radio show at Texas State University. Kelly is an Austin native and has been a high school teacher there since 2002.

Michael Schmidt
is a Lecturer and the Graduate Program Administrator for the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin. He has published articles in the Journal of Social History and German History and contributed to the edited volume German Division as Shared Experience: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Postwar Everyday.