Brian F. Wright

Previous Scheduled Teaching

Published Intellectual Contributions

Book

• Wright, B.F. (2024). The Bastard Instrument: A Cultural History of the Electric Bass. Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan Press.

Book Chapter

• Wright, B.F. (2024). The Bass Guitar in Popular Music. The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. Cambridge University Press.
• Wright, B.F. (2023). Elvis Presley in Las Vegas: The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the City of Second Chances. Viva Las Vegas: Music and Myth in America’s City of Second Chances.
• Wright, B.F. (2014). "Transvaluing Adam Clayton: Why the Bass Matters in U2's Music". U2 Above, Across, and Beyond: Interdisciplinary Assessments. 17-30. Lanham, Maryland, Lexington Press.

Book Review

• Wright, B.F. (2025). Review of Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals by Christopher M. Reali. Journal of the Society for American Music.
• Wright, B. (2024). Review of Rocking in the Free World: Popular Music and the Politics of Freedom in Postwar America. Notes, Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association.
• Wright, B. (2021). Review of Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit. Notes, Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association. 77 (3) 421-424.
• Wright, B.F. (2019). “Review of The Banjo: America’s African Instrument by Laurent Dubois”. Asian Journal of Latin American Studies. 58 (No. 1) 118. https://journals.ku.edu/amerstud/issue/view/1269
• Wright, B.F. (2017). “Review of Knowing Jazz by Ken Prouty and School for Cool by Eitan Y. Wilf”. Journal of the Society for American Music. 11 (2) 227-232.
• Wright, B.F. (2016). “Review of Networks of Sound, Style, and Subversion: The Punk and Post-Punk Worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool, and Sheffield, 1975-1980, by Nick Crossley”. Other. 72 (4) 746-748.
• Wright, B.F. (2014). “Review of Bad Vibrations: The History of the Idea of Music as a Cause of Disease, by James Kennaway”. Other. 71 (2) 305-307.
• Wright, B.F. (2013). “Review of Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment, by Mark Pedelty”. Environmental Values. 22 (3) 432-434.
• Wright, B.F. (2012). “Review of Grunge: Music and Memory, by Catherine Strong”. Other.

Critical Review

• Wright, B.F. (2016). “Review of Jaco: The Film (directed by Paul Marchand and Stephen Kijak) and Jaco: Original Soundtrack”. 9 (3) 319-324.
• Wright, B.F. (2014). “Review of Under African Skies (directed by Joe Berlinger)”. Other. 1 (1) 109-13.

Encyclopedia Article

• Wright, B.F., Sheets, A., Bacon, T. (2020). "Electric Bass Guitar". Grove Music Online. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• Wright, B.F., Martin, A.R., Mihalka, M. (2020). "Folkways Records". Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-Clio.
• Wright, B.F., Martin, A.R., Mihalka, M. (2020). "Nordic Jazz". Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-Clio.

Journal Article

• Wright, B.F. (2023). Introduction: What Kenny G Can Teach Us About Jazz. Other.
• Wright, B. (2023). Forum: “Revisiting Kenny G”. Other.
• Wright, B., Coddington, A., Mall, A. (2021). Looking Towards the Future: Popular Music Studies and Music Scholarship. Other. 18 (1) 3-70. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-music/issue/E985ABBC201D432986E7EB44664FB4E6
• Wright, B., Coddington, A., Mall, A. (2021). Looking Towards the Future: Popular Music Studies and Music Scholarship: Introduction. Other. 18 (1) 3-11. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478572220000237
• Wright, B., Coddington, A., Mall, A. (2020). Conference Report: ‘The Future of Pop: Big Questions Facing Popular Music Studies in the 21st Century,’ AMS Pre-Conference Symposium. Other. 32 (3)
• Wright, B. (2020). Jaco Pastorius, the Electric Bass, and the Struggle for Jazz Credibility. Other. University of California Press.
• Wright, B.F. (2019). "Reconstructing the History of Motown Session Musicians: The Carol Kaye / James Jamerson Controversy". Journal of the Society for American Music. 13 (1) 78-109. New York, New York, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752196318000536
• Wright, B.F. (2015). "'A Bastard Instrument': The Fender Precision Bass, Monk Montgomery, and Jazz in the 1950s". Other. 8 (3) 281-303. Taylor & Francis. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17494060.2015.1085888

Magazine/Trade Publication

• Wright, B.F. (2016). “Eugene Grew, Long-Lost Motown Session Master”. 84-87.

Webpage

• Wright, B.F. (2014). “Interview with Peter Roller, author of Milwaukee Garage Bands: Generations of Grassroots Rock”. Other. IASPM-US Interview Series.

Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Research

Fellowship

• Wright, B.F. (Principal), "Visiting Researcher Fellowship," sponsored by Willis Library of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, State, $1500 Funded. (2025 - 2025).

Grant - Research

• Geoffroy-Schwinden, R.D., Wright, B.F., Virani, V., Snyder, B., Sella, T., Dietlinger, B., "Team Mentoring Grant," University of North Texas, $5000 Funded. (2024 - 2025).
• Wright, B.F., "Small Grants Award," University of North Texas, $1000 Funded. ( - 2024).
• Wright, B., "Charles Hamm Fellowship," sponsored by Society for American Music, National, $2000 Funded. (2021 - 2021).
• Wright, B., "Junior Faculty Summer Research Grant," University of North Texas, $5000 Funded. (2020 - 2020).