What was your project about?

My project explored the songs of country singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert. Despite country music’s popularity and Lambert’s commercial success, both the genre and her songs are underrepresented in music scholarship. In a conference presentation (at the International Conference for Country Music) I explored how Lambert constructs her unique feminine persona and uses it to communicate with her audience—specifically with listeners who identify as rural white women. This project formed the basis for one of the chapters of my dissertation, which I defended in 2025.

Where are you now and how did your project shape the work you’re currently doing?

I am currently teaching voice and woodwind lessons online, having recently moved to Mississippi with my husband and daughter. I am also working on my book, Sounds Like a (Country) Lady, an expansion of my Cykler project and my dissertation, which will be published by Jenny Stanford Press in 2028.