Tracey E. W. Laird is a professor of music at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. She is the author or editor of four books, including Austin City Limits: A History (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Austin City Limits: A Monument to Music (Insight Editions, released in September 2015), the latter co-authored with her spouse, who is also a writer. She has contributed a chapter on "Country Music and Television" to the collection The Oxford Handbook of Country Music (Oxford University Press, 2017). Her perspective on the twenty-first century is part of the 50th Anniversary edition of Bill Malone's seminal Country Music, U.S.A. (University of Texas Press).