He obtained a bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature from Princeton University in 1979 (magna cum laude). He earned a master’s degree in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in 1983. He earned his PhD in English Literature from Princeton University in 2000. He teaches coursesat Ole Miss in American and African American literature, the blues tradition, southern autobiography, and race in American culture. He has published three books: Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir, Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition, which was the winner of the Holman Award from the Society for the Study of Southern Literature; and Journeyman’s Road: Modern Blues Lives From Faulkner’s Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York .