Steven Tracy is Distinguished Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, ChuTian Scholar at Central China Normal University (the most prestigious scholar award in Hubei Province, China), and appointed Guest professor at Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China, and Distinguished Overseas Professor at CCNU. He has authored, edited, co-edited, or provided introductions for thirty books; provided over seventy-five contributions to book publications edited by others; written over fifty CD liner notes; and taught, lectured, and presented papers in the US, Canada, England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, and China (over 55 lectures in China alone). He has been on the Fulbright Senior Specialist roster as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Tracy has been interviewed for "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition, Special Coverage," and "Vox Pop" on NPR. A singer-harmonica player, he has played with T-Bone Walker and Brownie McGhee and opened for B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Canned Heat, and others, and recorded with his own band, blues groups and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in addition to appearing on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show in 1971. His Hot Music, Ragmentation, and the Bluing of American Literature was published to great acclaim in June 2015.