David Evans (born January 22, 1944)^[1] is an Americanethnomusicologist and director of the Ethnomusicology/Regional Studies program at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music in theUniversity of Memphis, where he has worked since 1978.^[2] In 2023 he has been inducted in theBlues Hall of Fame as a non-performer.^[3][4]

He was born inBoston,Massachusetts, United States. He studied atUCLA and began making trips to thesouthern states in the 1960s to research and record blues musicians. He recorded the singerJack Owens in 1970 and later produced records forJessie Mae Hemphill and other blues musicians.^[1] His research work in theDeep South was mentioned extensively inRobert Palmer's tome,Deep Blues.^[5]

As head of the University of Memphis'sHigh Water Recording Company, he made numerous recordings of performers in the Memphis area, some of whom were not previously documented. He has written or edited a number of books on theblues and has writtenliner notes and booklets for various music releases.^[6] He won aGrammy Award in2003 for "Best Album Notes" for the CDScreamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton.^[7]

Evans has also been performing in the United States and elsewhere, both solo and with the Last Chance Jug Band. His discography includesMatch Box Blues (Inside Sounds, 2002);I Didn't Know About You (Heavywood, 2005);^[8]Needy Times (Inside Sounds, 2007) andShake That Thing! (Inside Sounds, 2006).^[9]

• Tommy Johnson (London: Studio Vista, 1971)
• Big Road Blues: Tradition and Creativity in the Folk Blues (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982)
• The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to the Blues (New York: Perigee, 2005)

• Cooper, Jack T. (2005). "David Evans".The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore. Anand Prahlad, ed. Vol. 1, A–F.Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-33036-0.

• Myspace profile
• AllMusic profile

• 1944 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American anthropologists
• American blues singers
• American blues guitarists
• American male guitarists
• Grammy Award winners
• University of Memphis faculty
• 20th-century American guitarists
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 21st-century American guitarists
• 21st-century American male musicians
• 21st-century American anthropologists
• 20th-century American musicologists
• 21st-century American musicologists

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