NED SUBLETTE (ned@qbadisc.com)is the author of The Year Before the Flood: A Story of New
Orleans (Lawrence Hill Books, 2009); The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square (Lawrence Hill Books, 2008, paper 2009); and Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo (Chicago Review Press, 2004, paper 2007). Howard Mandel wrote in December 2009 that The Year Before the Flood is “the best book of the year on modern America’s roots music and growing up with its contradictions. The reader sees things through its singer-songwriter-author’s eyes, and feels like he’s playing in Ned’s band.” Born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico, Sublette moved to New York City in 1976 and was part of the downtown scene of the ‘80s there. His most recent album was Cowboy Rumba, released by Palm Pictures, and his song “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly,” composed in 1981, was released in a version by Willie Nelson in 2006. He is presently working on a book about Haiti and on a new album, Kiss You Down South. He is the founder of the Institute for Postmambo Studies.
