Handbook of Texas Music - Editorial Listings and Music Advisors

Laurie E. Jasinski, Editor and Project Manager, has seventeen years experience with the Handbook of Texas Division of the Texas State Historical Association. She is the author of two books, Hill Country Backroads: Showing the Way in Comal County (TCU Press, 2001) and Dinosaur Highway: A History of Dinosaur Valley State Park (TCU Press 2008), and has worked as a freelance writer and researcher for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Cultural Resources Program as well as a contributor to Texas Highways, Texas Gardener, and Sky & Telescope. Jasinski served as president of the South Texas Historical Association from 2004 to 2009. Also a musician, Laurie is a vocalist and plays electric bass and acoustic guitar. She performed on and served as co-producer and graphics designer for her brother Larry Jasinski’s CD Imaginary Dawn (Red Nickel Records, 2010).

Casey Monahan is the Director of the Texas Music Office, an economic development program in the Office of the Governor in Austin that promotes the talent, products, and services of the Texas music industry to the worldwide music industry. He was hired to open the TMO in 1990. Prior to becoming Director of the TMO, Monahan was a music writer and research analyst for the Austin American-Statesman (1985–90) and was named "Best Music Critic" in the 1989 Austin Music Awards. He compiled and edited lyrical anthologies for Harvey "Tex Thomas" Young (Hut’s Hymnal, 1989) and Roky Erickson (Openers II, 1995), and was co-editor of the first Handbook of Texas Music (TSHA, 2003). He co-produced Roky Erickson's All That May Do My Rhyme (Trance Syndicate, 1995), and executive produced Junior Brown's Guit With It (Curb, 1993). Monahan's articles and/or photographs have appeared in Rolling Stone, Texas Monthly, the New York Times, and other publications. He is a five-time elected board member of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 

Gary Hartman is a History Professor and founder and Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University-San Marcos. The Center is involved in a number of projects devoted to the preservation and study of Texas music history. These include offering graduate and undergraduate courses on blues, gospel, conjunto, Tejano, country, rock-and-roll, and other genres of music found in Texas; publishing The Journal of Texas Music History; collaborating with the Texas State Historical Association on The Handbook of Texas Music; hosting the popular NPR series This Week in Texas Music History; collecting archival materials related to Texas music; and working with museums, public schools, and others to organize exhibits and educational programs on Texas music history. Author of The History of Texas Music (Dickson Book Series, Texas A&M University Press, 2008) and several other publications on Texas music, Hartman also is a musician who has performed throughout the United States and Europe.

Ann T. Smith has worked on the Handbook of Texas for more than five years maintaining information and supporting special projects. She previously had a career in management information systems in the banking and insurance industries. Ann has played string bass since high school and appreciates the music educators mentioned in The Handbook of Texas Music who have made a difference in the lives of students. Ann studied bass at the Hartt School of Music, played in the University of Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, and has enjoyed playing in several community orchestras, most recently with the Balcones Community Orchestra in Austin.

Music Advisors