Dr. Kristina Jacobsen, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the UNM Department of Music, is awarded the 2018 Woody Guthrie Book Award for the most outstanding book in popular music by the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM-U.S.).
“Jacobsen’s study of the ways in which Diné, or Navajo, country music musicians and fans articulate their sense of belonging and identity through country music, a genre deemed incongruous with and even antagonistic to Navajo sensibilities, is a remarkable example of popular music scholarship. Jacobsen’s work is particularly timely as the racialization of indigeneity continues to erase indigenous presence from popular music and cultural production writ large. Jacobsen’s reflexive positioning as a non-Diné (white) scholar as well as a performing country musician in bands with Navajo musicians, Jacobsen provides a strong model for ethical and sensitive ethnographic work.”
2019 Prize Committee (Kevin Fellezs, Alexa Woloshyn, and Kate Galloway), Woody Guthrie Book Award.
Dr. Michael Hix Selected for Prestigious UNM LIFT Leadership Program
Albuquerque, NM — Dr. Michael Hix, Professor of Voice and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of New Mexico, has been selected to participate in the 2026 cohort of the Leadership Innovation for Faculty Transformation (LIFT) program, a competitive...
A Luminous Journey in Sound: Star Trail, New CD by José Luis Hurtado
Star Trail, the newest CD by composer and pianist José Luis Hurtado, invites listeners into a vibrant universe of sound, one that shimmers, expands, and unfolds like light moving through space. Released on the Kairos label, the album presents a collection of works that transform listening into an immersive, almost physical experience.
UNM Musicology Celebrates 10 Years
By Melissa Ríos, UNM Musicology Graduate Student & Musicology Research Assistant April 2025 April 17th marked the celebration of a decade of musicology at UNM. To celebrate the occasion, Dr. Heidi Jensen, who was the first graduate of the revamped program in 2015,...