Paul F. Wells is Associate Professor of Music and Director of the Center for Popular Music, an interdisciplinary archive and research center that is independent of the School of Music.  Wells is an active scholar with a wide range of interests in American vernacular music, especially music of the rural South.  He has read papers and published work on fiddling and fiddle tunes, bluegrass music, music of the Civil War, early country music, and the history of music publishing.  He has produced or written notes for more than two dozen recordings.  Wells plays American, Canadian, and Irish traditional music on fiddle, simple-system flute, guitar, mandolin, and banjo, and has a strong interest in historically informed performance of pre-20th century American music.  He serves the School of Music through guest lectures to various classes, service on committees, and development of the curriculum in American music history.  Wells served as president of the Society for American Music from 2001-2003 and is active in the American Folklore Society, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, the Tennessee Folklore Society, and the Southeast Music Library Association..