Folklore Night, with Olivia Phillips, a PhD candidate in Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Olivia Phillips (she/her) is a traditional musician, educator, folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and scholar of Appalachian studies hailing from Western North Carolina. As a PhD candidate in Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, her dissertation research examines the role of traditional singing in shaping past and present narratives of local heritage and identity in her native Beech Mountain community. Olivia’s musical training and performance span from Western classical voice to balladry, old-time, gospel, Irish traditional singing, Americana, and more. Her current and upcoming musical projects include songwriting (a new-found love), a May 2026 ballad exchange in Ireland with County Wexford singer Aileen Lambert, and preparing to record an album of traditional songs from Beech Mountain. Olivia holds an MA in ethnomusicology from Indiana University and a BM in vocal music education from East Tennessee State University.