Ted Olson has lived for many years in Appalachia, where he has worked as a naturalist, a park ranger, and a professor. His poems, articles, essays, encyclopedia entries, reviews, and oral histories have appeared in a wide variety of books and periodicals. Olson's poetry collections include Breathing in Darkness: Poems (2006) and Revelations: Poems (2012). Among his other publications are several scholarly books, including Blue Ridge Folklife (1998), The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music (2005), and A Tennessee Folklore Sampler (2009). He has edited books featuring literary works by James Still, Sarah Orne Jewett, Sherwood Anderson, and Cesare Pavese. Book series editor for the University of Tennessee Press's Charles K. Wolfe Music Series as well as associate editor and music section editor for the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Olson is a Grammy-nominated record producer and album notes writer. Presently Professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University, he served in 2008 as Fulbright Senior Scholar of American Studies in Barcelona, Spain.
