In May 2014, then book review editor John Koegel asked if I wanted to be part of the team of eight scholars with varied interests and specialties to review the second edition of The Grove Dictionary of American Music (hereafter AmeriGrove II), edited by Charles H. Garrett (what a Herculean task!) and published by Oxford University Press in 2013. Specifically, John wondered if I would be “willing to review the coverage of American traditional music.” As one who has used and appreciated the first edition of this monumentally ambitious work, I was curious to see the updated edition, so the next day I naively wrote back, “This sounds interesting, and I'll take on the assignment.”