WRITING & RESEARCH

As well as being a performing musician, Tom is also a teacher, writer, and academic.
Here, you can find details of Tom's teaching, writing, and conference presentations.  

BOOKS

Attah, T. (2022). “I Been Studying Rain”: what do we hear when we listen to the blues of Robert Johnson? M. Alleyne,  L. Burns, W. Moylan  (Eds.), Analyzing Recorded Music: Collected Perspectives. New York, Routledge.

Attah, T. (2021). The boy can’t help it: Little Richard’s disruption and re-construction of black male screen performativity. K. Fairclough & J. Wood (Eds.), Pop stars on film : popular culture in a global market. London: Bloomsbury.

Attah, T. (2020). To make purple, you need blue: Prince as embodiment of the postmodern blues aesthetic. Prince and Popular Music - Critical Perspectives on an Interdisciplinary Life. M. Alleyne and K. Fairclough. London, Bloomsbury.

Attah, T. (2018). I thought I heard that up north whistle blow: the role of Manchester and Leeds in the development and dissemination of blues music and blues culture. In E. Mazierska (Ed.), Sounds Northern - Popular Music, Culture and Place in England’s North. Sheffield: Equinox.

Sanjek, D. (2018). Stories we could tell: putting words to American popular music (T. Attah, M. Duffett, & B. Halligan Eds.). London: Routledge

MEDIA

(2024) ITV/Mammoth Productions UK “McDonald and Dodds” Season 4 Episode 3 “Jinxy Sings the Blues”

(2023) Shot and Chaser podcast (Sony Music UK) - Why is Nina Simone such a huge icon?

(2022) BBC Radio 2 The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews - Beginner’s Guide to the Blues part 5 - regional variations - Chicago blues

(2022) BBC Radio 2 The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews - Beginner’s Guide to the Blues part 4 - regional variations - Delta blues

(2022) BBC Radio 2 The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews - Beginner’s Guide to the Blues part 3 - regional variations - the Piedmont

(2022) BBC Radio 2 The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews - Beginner’s Guide to the Blues part 2 - the pioneering women of early blues

(2022) BBC Radio 2 The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews - Beginner’s Guide to the Blues part 1 - origins of the blues

(2020) BBC Radio Wales, Adam Walton Show 13th June 2020 (original collaboration with Rufus Mufasa)

(2019) Sky Arts The Decade the Music Died

(2019) BBC Radio 2 The Cerys Matthews Blues Show

(2018) BBC Radio 2 The Cerys Matthews Blues Show

(2017) BBC Radio 4 All You Need is Lab

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Attah, Tom; Cavett, Esther; Dueck, Byron; Miller, Sue; Redhead, Lauren. (2024). Teaching music theory in UK higher education today: contexts and commentaries. Music Education Research, 26(1), 71-81. doi:10.1080/14613808.2024.2306650

Attah, T. (2022). The Original Blues: the Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville. By Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff. Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 2017. 420 pp. ISBN: 10 1496823265. Popular Music, 40(11), 509-511. doi:10.1017/S0261143021000477

Attah, T. (2016). Sheila, take a bow. Volume! The French journal of popular music studies, 12(2), 205-215.

Attah, T. (2013f). Popular music and society - the fandom issue. Volume! The French journal of popular music studies, 10(1), 320-322.

Attah, T. (2013e). Feels like going home: mythologising the story of the blues. A contratiempo - revista, 27.

Attah, T. (2012). Chris Potash - The Jimi Hendrix companion: three decades of commentary. Volume! The French journal of popular music studies, 9(2), 160-161.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Attah, T (2023). “Put the Sheet Music In Front of Them” – negotiating issues of Literacy and Articulation in teaching Music Theory to Popular Music Performance students in UK Higher Education.  Paper presented at Seminar in Ethnomusicology and Sound Studies – Reimagining methods and approaches for teaching music theory to higher education students, University of Oxford, UK

Attah, T. (2021). Standing up for falling down: engaging the colonial present through popular music.  Paper presented at the Decolonising the Curriculum Symposium for Learning Teaching and Higher Education Symposium at Leeds Arts University.

Attah, T. (2021). Never ending stories: narratives and myth-making in popular music culture. Visiting lecture at Edinburgh Napier University.

Attah, T. (2020). Discovering the Blues: Paul Oliver and the world of blues research. Think Human Festival - Festival of humanities and social sciences, Oxford Brookes, University.

Attah, T. (2018). To make purple, you need blue: Prince as the embodiment of the postmodern blues aesthetic. Paper presented at the Prince in Minneapolis Conference, University of Minnesota.

Attah, T. (2017d). Halls without walls: examining the development, dissemination and perpetuation of blues music and blues culture Paper presented at the Royal Musical Association Annual Conference, University of Liverpool.

Attah, T. (2017c). To make purple, you need blue: Prince as the embodiment of the postmodern blues aesthetic. Paper presented at the Purple Reign Conference, University of Salford.

Attah, T.(2017b).Halls without walls: examining the development, dissemination and perpetuation of blues music and blues culture Paper presented at the Digital folk symposium University ofSheffield.

Attah, T. (2017a). Ain’t no grave can hold my body down: exploring the persistence of mythology in blues culture. Paper presented at the Equal Platforms Conference, University of Gloucester.

Attah, T., & Spelman, N. (2016). Sheila, take a bow. Plenary paper presented at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of Sussex.

Attah, T. (2014). From the Delta to the download: influence and effects of technology in the blues. Paper presented at the Innovation in Popular Music, Leeds College of Music.

Attah, T. (2013g). Whose Blues? Issues of identity and ownership in contemporary blues music culture and performance. Paper presented at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of Glasgow.

Attah, T. (2012d). Feels like going home: mythologising the story of the blues. Paper presented at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, University of Salford.

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

Attah, T. (2013d, 01/04/13). Mythbusting #7: The blues is a traditional style unaffected by technology. Blues In Britain Magazine.

Attah, T. (2013c, 01/03/13). Mythbusting #6: Al Wilson had to re-teach Son House how to play the guitar Blues In Britain Magazine.

Attah, T. (2013b, 01/02/13). Mythbusting #5: Eric Burdon and the origins of the House of the Rising Sun. Blues In Britain Magazine.

Attah, T. (2013a, 01/01/13). Mythbusting #4: Was Muddy Waters really painting the ceiling at Chess Records when he met the Rolling Stones? Blues In Britain Magazine.

Attah, T. (2012c, 01/12/12). Mythbusting #3: Was W.C. Handy really the father of the blues? Blues In Britain Magazine.

Attah, T. (2012b, 01/11/12). Mythbusting #2: Robert Johnson sells his soul to the devil. Blues In Britain Magazine.

Attah, T. (2012a, 01/10/12). Mythbusting #1: Leadbelly sings his way out of prison. Blues In Britain Magazine.