Biography Click here for listings of Don's Writings/Books on Amazon.com. Click on Don's photo for High Resolution photo for press needs

 

Don Cusic is one of the premier historians of country music, an internationally known scholar and writer who has written on a wide variety of subjects and topics. Cusic has been called “country music’s public intellectual” and has been quoted in numerous publications and appeared on a number of television shows commenting on country music. Although he is an expert on country music, Cusic has also written about gospel and Christian music, the blues, rhythm and blues, the Singing Cowboys of western music, jazz, pop and rock music and on topics as diverse as cowboys, African-American Buffalo Soldiers, the Civil War, the international music industry and American politics.

Cusic is the author of seventeen published books, Among his works are the biographies Gene Autry: His Life and Career and Eddy Arnold: I'll Hold You In My Heart as well as The Trials of Henry Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point. He has written a history and overview of country music, Discovering Country Music, a history and overview of Gospel and Christian music, The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel and Christian Music, and an encyclopedia of cowboys, Cowboys and the Wild West: An A-Z Guide from the Chisholm Trail to the Silver Screen. Other books include Johnny Cash: The Songs, Music in the Market, Baseball and Country Music, Poet of the Common Man: Merle Haggard Lyrics, Willie Nelson: Lyrics 1959-1994, Hank Williams: The Complete Lyrics, Reba McEntire: Country Music's Queen, Randy Travis: King of the New Traditionalists, The Poet as Performer, and Sandi Patti: The Voice of Gospel. He has also contributed entries to a number of encyclopedias, including the Grove Dictionary of Music, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Blues and Gospel, African-Americans and Popular Culture (edited by Todd Boyd), The Encyclopedia of United States Popular Culture, The Protestant Encyclopedia, The Tennessee Encyclopedia and the Country Music Encyclopedia published by the Country Music Foundation. He has two entries ("Johnny Cash" and "Loretta Lynn") in the three volume source book Icons published by Greenwood Press.
His chapter on "Johnny Cash and C.S. Lewis" is published in Literary Cash in and his chapter "Cowboys in Chicago" is published in The Hayloft Gang: The Story of the National Barn Dance, a companion book to the PBS documentary on WLS in Chicago.

Don Cusic has had over 500 articles published since he began writing. He has been the Country and Gospel Editor for Record World and Cashbox, a columnist for Music City News and album reviewer and special correspondent for Billboard. He is currently the editor of The Western Way, the publication of the Western Music Association.
He has written album liner notes for Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Sonny James, Gary Paxton, George Beverly Shea, Sheb Wooley and Floyd Cramer. He assisted with the Time-Life series on Country Music and wrote the booklet notes on the songs for Tammy Wynette. He wrote the liner notes for the Reader's Digest album on George Beverly Shea.
Don Cusic has presented academic papers for the Popular Culture Association, the Popular Culture Association of the South, the American Studies Association, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, the International Country Music Conference, the International Popular Culture Conference (in Oxford, England), the Tennessee Philological Society, the Tennessee Folklore Society, the Western Music Association, the Baseball Symposium, and the Music Educators Industry and Entertainment Association (MEIEA)

In addition to his articles, liner notes and papers, Don Cusic has written songs recorded by the Lewis Family, Lynn Morris, Linda Davis, Eve Goldberg, Pam Mark Hall, Carroll Baker, Darrell McCall and Chris LeDoux. His photography won a Tennessee Press Association award in l973 and he did the cover and liner photography for a Word album by Teddy Huffam and the Gems. He has hosted a television show, "The Music Biz," written for The Nashville Network and appeared a number of times on CMT programs, including the "Controversy" series, "Greatest Patriotic Songs," "Waiting in the Wings" and others; he appeared on a number of TNN shows, including "Life and Times" of Eddy Arnold" and the A&E Biography Series (on Hank Williams). He also appeared on the BBC series "Lost Highway: The History of Country Music" and “White Gospel.”
Don Cusic was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland. He attended St. Mary's College and the University of Maryland where he received a B.S. in Journalism. Cusic moved to Tennessee in 1972.

Cusic's first job in the music industry was with the Country Music Association as a staff writer, then with Record World, a trade publication as Nashville editor. From there he joined Monument Records where he served as head of Artist Development and International Liaison (Monument was distributed by CBS International). After leaving Monument, Cusic and Dan Beck formed a management and public relations company where they managed Riders in the Sky and Dickie Lee. After the management/pr company Cusic became the first Nashville editor for Contemporary Christian Music magazine, then joined Cashbox as Country and Gospel Editor. During this period he served for three years on the Gospel Music Association's Board of Directors.

Don Cusic joined the faculty at Middle Tennessee State University in 1982 teaching courses in the music business. He earned a Masters and Doctorate in Literature from MTSU. Since August, 1994 he has been Professor of Music Business at Belmont University. As an educator, Cusic has been a pioneer in the field of music business education, developing courses, curriculum and material for the music business programs at Belmont University and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).  In 2006 Cusic was named “Music City Professor of Music Industry History at Belmont; this position was endowed by the Mike Curb Family Foundation. \

Cusic is the founding member and Chair of the Belmont Book Award, given each year to the best book in country music. He is on the Editorial Boards of two academic journals, Journal of Popular Culture and Popular Music and Society. He is a member of the Country Music Association (Lifetime), Western Music Association (Lifetime), the Gospel Music Association (Lifetime), the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the Popular Culture Association, the Tennessee Folklore Society, the International Bluegrass Music Association, the Americana Music Association and the Music Educators Industry and Entertainment Association (MEIEA).
Don Cusic is married to the former Jackie Frantz, who was a member of the RCA recording group “Dave and Sugar.” During her time with Dave and Sugar the group had several number one singles, including “The Door Is Always Open” and “Queen of the Silver Dollar.” Jackie has been a studio session singer since 1977 and sang on recordings by numerous artists, including Ronnie Milsap, Charley Pride, Eddy Arnold, Elvis Presley, Mel Street, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. Don and Jackie have four children.

You may contact Don Cusic at:

P.O. Box 120751
Nashville, Tennessee 37212
TEL: 615.460.5438
FAX: 615.460.6518
email: don.cusic@belmont.edu

For more information about Belmont University, where Don teaches, please visit their web site at www.belmont.edu or http://www.belmont.edu/mb/