Jerry Zolten

Jerry Zolten is an American writer, advocator for, and producer of American roots music. A Professor at Penn State University, he is best known as the author of a book tracing the 90 year career of the African-American Dixie Hummingbirds gospel group and their influence on both sacred and secular music. He also writes about and is a noted expert on the history of American stand-up comedy. Zolten is also known for numerous articles and album liner notes on blues, country, and gospel music as well as collaborations on musical projects with Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar. His more recent writings and musical releases include "The Beatles as Recording Artists" in ''The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles'', biographical and musicological entries on Paramount recording artists for ''The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records 1917–1927'', and ''Chimpin' the Blues with Robert Crumb and Jerry Zolten'', an audio collection of conversation and rare blues and blues-related recordings from the early 20th Century. In 2017 he co-produced and narrated the public radio program ''Time to Lay It Down: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War''. Zolten appears in the documentary film ''Ballad of the Dreadnought'', produced by the Martin Guitar Company telling the story of their flagship D model guitars. He is also a co-producer and appears in the documentary film ''How They Got Over: Gospel Quartets and the Road to Rock and Roll'' Provided by Wikipedia