Will Boone is a North Carolina-based writer, educator, and musician. He received a PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013 with ethnographic research on contemporary black gospel music and spirit-filled worship in a Durham, North Carolina church. His publications include academic essays, articles for the Grove Encyclopedia of American Music, and the extensive liner notes for Labor of Love, the 2016 release from blues legend Taj Mahal. At NC State University, he teaches courses on Hip-Hop, Rock, and African American Music. Along with digital media librarians at NCSU’s Hunt Library, he designed a beat-making workshop where students use the library’s audio production suites to sample vinyl records and create their own digital compositions. As a guitarist, he’s played in black churches since 2002, in the band of American Idol finalist Anoop Desai, and in The Petty Thieves, a Tom Petty cover band.