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1990 - Ph.D. Majors: Ethnomusicology

Minors: African-American Studies (Double minor – 30 credits), American Studies Indiana University, Bloomington 

1984 - M.A. Ethnomusicology - Indiana University, Bloomington

1984 - C.A. Certified Archivist – Society of American Archivists  

1980 - B.A. Double Major: Sociology/Fine Arts - Montclair State University, NJ

1978-1980 Theory and Composition – The Juilliard School

1971 - Apprenticeship with American abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning  

2020 -  ARSC (Association of Recorded Sound Collections)  Award for Excellence for Best

             Historical Research in Recorded Blues, Soul, Gospel, or R&B 

2020 -  Living Blues Critics Poll Award Winner: 

             Best Blues Book of the Year - Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson

             Living Blues Reader’s Poll Award Winner: 

             Best Blues Book of 2019 - Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson

2020 – Penderyn Prize for the best book on any music topic (history, biography, autobiography, 

             analysis,  fiction, etc.) for Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson

2014 – UM Center for World Performance Studies Summer Faculty Grant - $2,500

2014 -  UM Center for World Performance Studies Discretionary Grant for travel to England to 

             give a keynote address and perform American roots music - $2,000

2014-   UM Provost Discretionary Grant for travel to England to give a keynote address and 

             perform American roots music - $3,000

2013 - Transforming Learning for the Third Century Grant: “Living the Blues – Roots Music 

             Immersion”$30,000

2013 -  Taubman School of Architecture Research on the City Grant – “Music Festivals as

             Accelerated Cities”  $40,000

2012 - Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching – University of Michigan

2011 - Princeton Review “One of America’s 300 Best Professors”

2008 - CRLT Lecturer’s Professional Development Grant $3,000

2001 - Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Transcription grant $30,000

1992 – Capital One Education Grant – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum $40,000

1988 - The L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation Research Grant to support the research on

            The Haight-Ashbury 1965: The Psychedelic Solution - $2,000

1984 - AASLH (American Association for State and Local History) Grant to research the  influence

           of blues music on African-American migration - $5,000

1982 – National Science Foundation Grant for Wax Cylinder Restoration (with Anthony Seeger 

             and Nancy Cassel) - $82,000

1984 - Village Voice Jazz and Pop Review selection of Nobody Knows My Name - Blues From  South

            Carolina and Georgia, 1924-1932 (album produced and  edited by Conforth) as one of the 

            year's best new releases

1983 - Library of Congress selection of Cap'n You're So Mean (album produced and edited by 

            Conforth) as one of the Outstanding Folk Recordings of 1983

to be continued

to be continued