Professor Albin Zak is a musicologist, composer, songwriter, and record producer. He holds degrees in composition and performance from the New England Conservatory and in musicology from the City University of New York. His research specialties are postwar popular music and the history of sound recording and record production. His articles and reviews appear in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Journal of the Society for American Music, Current Musicology, Notes, Journal of American History, Journal on the Art of Record Production, and several volumes of collected essays. He is the author of The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records (University of California), and I Don’t Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America (University of Michigan); and editor of The Velvet Underground Companion: Four Decades of Commentary (Schirmer). His recordings of original songs include In the Hurricane, Across the Brazos, By the Side of the Road, An Average Day, Waywardnessand Inspiration, and Villa Maria Road.