Dr. Daniel Sheehy is an ethnomusicologist, author, musician, folklife consultant, and folk and traditional arts advocate.  He served as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Director and Curator (2000-2016), Curator Emeritus (2016-present), Director and Acting Director and Director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (2008-2013), Acting Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center (2008-2009), Director of Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts (1992-2000), and staff ethnomusicologist and Assistant Director (1978-1992).  He was a Fulbright-Hays scholar in Veracruz, Mexico (1977-78), and earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA (1979).  He served as co-editor with Dale Olsen of the South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.  His book Mariachi Music in America: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture was published by Oxford University Press in 2006.  Under his leadership, Smithsonian Folkways published more than 220 recordings, earning five Grammy awards (including three he earned personally as producer), one Latin Grammy, and twenty-one Grammy nominations.  During this time, the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music, Arhoolie Records, and several other historic record labels were added to the Folkways Collections.  In addition, with Dr. Olivia Cadaval, he curated the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Nuestra Música project, featuring four major programs of roots música latina on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009.  Sheehy currently serves as Board President of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, board member of the National Council for the Traditional Arts and the Association for Cultural Equity, and past board member of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the American Folklore Society.  The American Folklore Society honored him with the Benjamin A. Botkin prize (1997), recognizing major impact on the field of public folklore, and the Américo Paredes prize (2010), honoring a career of excellence in integrating scholarship and engagement with the people and communities one studies.  In 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship.  In 2016, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian gave him the lifetime honorific title of Smithsonian Folkways Director and Curator Emeritus. 

Dr. Daniel Sheehy is an ethnomusicologist, author, musician, folklife consultant, and folk and traditional arts advocate.  He served as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Director and Curator (2000-2016), Curator Emeritus (2016-present), Director and Acting Director and Director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (2008-2013), Acting Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center (2008-2009), Director of Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts (1992-2000), and staff ethnomusicologist and Assistant Director (1978-1992).  He was a Fulbright-Hays scholar in Veracruz, Mexico (1977-78), and earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA (1979).  He served as co-editor with Dale Olsen of the South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.  His book Mariachi Music in America: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture was published by Oxford University Press in 2006.  Under his leadership, Smithsonian Folkways published more than 220 recordings, earning five Grammy awards (including three he earned personally as producer), one Latin Grammy, and twenty-one Grammy nominations.  During this time, the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music, Arhoolie Records, and several other historic record labels were added to the Folkways Collections.  In addition, with Dr. Olivia Cadaval, he curated the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Nuestra Música project, featuring four major programs of roots música latina on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009.  Sheehy currently serves as Board President of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, board member of the National Council for the Traditional Arts and the Association for Cultural Equity, and past board member of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the American Folklore Society.  The American Folklore Society honored him with the Benjamin A. Botkin prize (1997), recognizing major impact on the field of public folklore, and the Américo Paredes prize (2010), honoring a career of excellence in integrating scholarship and engagement with the people and communities one studies.  In 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship.  In 2016, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian gave him the lifetime honorific title of Smithsonian Folkways Director and Curator Emeritus. 

Dan Sheehy is Director and Curator of the nonprofit record label Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and oversees the Folkways collections of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Smithsonian Folkways boasts an educational Web site offering CDs and downloads (including full liner notes), video mini-documentaries, and lesson plans featuring traditional music from around the world. In June 2015, Dan was named a 2015 National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts, for making “a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage.” In April of 2016, he was awarded a prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

An ethnomusicologist and folklorist, Dan was appointed curator and director of Smithsonian Folkways in 2000. He is author of Mariachi Music in America: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture and co-editor of the South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Under Sheehy’s direction, Smithsonian Folkways has published more than 200 recordings, including the 10-volume Music of Central Asia series, the African American Legacy Series (co-sponsored by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture), and the Tradiciones/Traditions Series of signature music from Latin America and Latino USA.

Before joining Smithsonian in 2000, Dan served as director of Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts (1992-2000) and staff ethnomusicologist and assistant director (1978-1992). A former Fulbright-Hays scholar in Veracruz, Mexico, he earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA.

Article

• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2014. "Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: The Role of Music in Breaching the Barriers of the Box." Curator: The Museum Journal, 57, (4) 415–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12082. 2014
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2009. "El poder de una grabacion." Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, El lugar de la musica, 16–21. 2009
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2009. "Las Americas: Un Mundo Musical/The Americas: A Musical World." 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. 2009
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2007. "En Sinaloa nací: Historia de la música de banda." Latin American Music Review, 27, (2) 220–224. https://doi.org/10.1353/lat.2007.0009. 2007

Audio Document

• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2008. "Amor, Dolor y Lagrimas: Musica Ranchera." Washington DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2008
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2008. "Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia's Musica Vallenata." Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2008

Audio-Visual Document

• Sheehy, Daniel E. and Fogelquist, Mark. (Director). 2010. The Sounds of Mariachi: Lessons in Mariachi Music Performance (SF DV 480). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. 2010

Chapter

• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2016. "Aims, Frames, and Gains: Context, Curatorship, and Building cultural Capital." In Curatorial Conversations: Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Cadaval, Olivia, Kim, Sojin, and N'Diaye, Diana Baird, editors. 49. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 2016
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2009. "Prologo." In La cancion artistic colombiana. Jaime Leon: Analisis y compilacion de su obra para voz y piano. Caicedo, Patricia, editor. 6–6. New York: Mundo Arts Publication. 2009
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2009. "Prólogo." In La canción artística colombiana: Jaime León: Análisis y compilación de su obra para voz y piano. Caicedo, Patricia, editor. 6. Bogotá: Mundoarts Publications. 2009
• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2008. "Foreword." In Foundations of Mariachi Education. Gradante, William, editor. v–viii. Reston: MENC. 2008

Review

• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2010. [Book review] "La &quotinvención” de la música indígena de México: Antropología e historia de las políticas culturales del siglo XX." Latin American Music Review, 31, (1), 131–135. https://doi.org/10.1353/lat.2010.0009. 2010

Webpage

• Sheehy, Daniel E. 2009. Tradiciones/Traditions: The Expanding Universe of Musica Latina. Smithsonian FolkwaysMagazine. 2009