Hannah Kreiger-Benson and Laura DeFazio will discuss their community history project, Frenchmen Notes, which captures the story of a small but vibrant musical incubator on the edge of the New Orleans French Quarter. Using a combination of oral history and data collection, they are chronicling fifty years of history along this 2 ½ block economic engine in the city’s cultural landscape, and showing how this research can support working musicians today.

Ryan Purcell will discuss Soundscapes NYC, a grant-funded, independent media initiative dedicated to preserving and amplifying New York City’s living histories through sound. Through oral history and in collaboration with artists, community members, and cultural institutions, this project has created audio and video documentaries and public programs rooted in ethical, community-based storytelling.

Autumn Cuddy will discuss the development of the CoMo Music Project, which documents the eclectic music scene of Columbia, MO, through physical materials, oral history interviews, and digital mapping. Often considered a drive-by town in a flyover state, Columbia’s location between Kansas City and St. Louis infused the local scene with influences from national and international touring acts traveling between the two cities, broadening the musical scope of this Midwestern college town.

Rami Stucky will discuss his research in Wichita, KS, where the music scene is divided. On one side is the Midtopia record label, a nonprofit called Somewhere Works, and the Elsewhere festival--all sponsored by Koch Enterprises and led by Charles Koch. On the other is a small but fervent group of Palestinian musicians who refuse to work within a Koch-funded musical setting and instead have established their own electric, soul, and rock subculture.

Bringing these four projects together reveals the urgency and importance of documenting local music scenes as a crucial form of cultural labor across the US. While working in very different places, the panelists engage similar community-rooted frameworks that shape how they conduct and share their research. Their stories move us beyond dominant narratives of popular genres, record labels, or performers. Instead, they offer new insights on histories of industry exploitation and suppressive city policies by highlighting the agency of local musicians to create their own musical worlds in relationship with local business owners and community members. While rooted in hyperlocal contexts, these projects demonstrate how music scenes across the US became incubators for new musical forms, political expression, and economic growth in large and small cities alike.

The session will begin with brief presentations from each project team, followed by a roundtable conversation moderated by Jessica Dauterive about themes and methods that connect the four projects. The session will end in conversation with the audience, offering suggestions and ideas for those interested in creating similar projects in their own communities.