Doing Musical Fieldwork with James G. Spady

The author reflects on his experiences of doing musical fieldwork alongside James G. Spady. Discussed in particular are methods of knowledge production and performance prevalent in the African American communities and public spaces in which fieldwork took place. The article includes long entries from the author's field journal. These entries give narrative accounts of two fieldwork experiences from 2003, and are chosen for the varieties of dialogical role play, negotiation, generosity, humor, suspicion and tension on which they report.