Elijah Wald has been a folk blues guitarist since childhood and a writer for more than thirty years, and his work has appeared in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, TheTower Pulse, Songlines, Sing Out, Living Blues, and The Boston Globe, where he served as world music critic throughout the 1990s. He won a Grammy in 2002 for his album notes for The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box, and has produced several albums and recorded two of his own. He has taught blues history at UCLA and lectured widely on American, Mexican, and world music.