Research Interests
Dr. Attah's research examines how technology shapes the production, circulation, and meaning of popular music, with a focus on blues music and blues culture. His work asks what music, literature, film, video games, and digital media tell us about how identity, race, and power are lived and understood.
His academic writing includes book chapters, journal articles, and edited collections. Recent publications include a co-edited collection on popular music autobiography (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025), and chapters on Robert Johnson (Routledge, 2022), Little Richard (Bloomsbury, 2021), and Prince (Bloomsbury, 2020).
His media work as a subject matter expert includes multiple appearances on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4, contributions to documentaries for Sky Arts, ITV, and Hammer Films, and a consultancy role as blues music specialist for ITV drama.
Biography
Dr. Attah received his M.A. in Music (Performance) with distinction from the University of Salford in 2012, and his Ph.D. in Popular Music from the University of Salford in 2017. His doctoral research examined the perpetuation, development, and dissemination of blues music and blues culture in the digital age.
Before entering academia, Dr. Attah worked in the technology sector at Microsoft Corporation UK, designing and delivering specialist training across international markets. He has held teaching positions at the University of Salford and BIMM Manchester, and has served as an external examiner for popular music programmes at institutions including Edinburgh Napier University, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and the University of Central Lancashire. His professional service includes membership of the Royal Musical Association Council, the Board of Directors of the Association of Popular Music Educators, and the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement Working Group for Music, and he serves as series editor for the British Pop Archive series at Manchester University Press and as a peer reviewer for Oxford University Press, Bloomsbury Academic, and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. He joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in 2025.
Publications
Gesture, text, context: post-punk and new wave interpretations of early soul and funk (Routledge)
Blues music in digital media: from the delta to the download (Bloomsbury)
The Bloomsbury handbook of literature and popular music (Bloomsbury)
Blues in the north: Black music in Northern England (1950-1964) (Manchester University Press)
Performing popular music: performer gesture text and context (Routledge)
Courses Taught
Education
M.A. Music Performance, University of Salford (2012)
Ph.D. Music, University of Salford (2017)