Melissa A. Weber

Melissa A. Weber is the newly appointed, as of August 2019, curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive, a division of Special Collections of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University, and the leading research center for the study of New Orleans jazz and related musical genres.

A native of New Orleans and a respected music, arts, and education professional, Weber is also well-known both locally and internationally under the stage moniker of Soul Sister, the vinyl-collecting veteran WWOZ FM (since 1994) show host, and a live DJ artist whose performances have earned her two Big Easy Entertainment Awards. As a music historian, her writing can be found in a number of music journalism sources, and she has presented papers at academic conferences for the International Association for the Study of Popular Music; the Museum of Pop Culture; the National Council for Black Studies; and the Society for Ethnomusicology, Southeast and Caribbean Chapter.

Weber’s expert areas of interest include musicology, New Orleans music and culture, Black American music, various popular music genres (including hip hop, R&B, and rock), gender in music, and archives and special collections.