Robert K. Oermann
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Robert Karl Oermann is a
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
-based music journalist and author who is recognized as an authority on
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
. He is a long-time regular contributor to the trade publication ''
MusicRow ''MusicRow'' is a Nashville music industry trade publication. The publication delivers online content in addition to six annual print magazines including its InCharge, Artist Roster and Publisher directories. MusicRow Enterprises is also home t ...
'', for which he writes a weekly column.


Biography

Oermann was born in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, grew up there, and attended the
University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
receiving an undergraduate degree in fine arts. As a boy, he started a record collection with the records which he was given as compensation when he helped out in his grandmother's Pittsburgh
record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sol ...
. That childhood collection grew to become what was described in 1999 as "one of the largest private record archives" in
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. He began his professional career working as an artist and illustrator. In the 1970s he worked as advertising manager for a chain of record stores in
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
. After receiving a master's degree in the field of information studies from
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
; in 1978 he moved to Nashville for a job with the
Country Music Foundation The Country Music Foundation (CMF) chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and education surrounding country music. The CMF currently employs more than 70 full-time professionals and i ...
(CMF), where he was in charge of technical services for the organization and its
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
. While working at the CMF, Oermann began doing freelance writing on music and developed a reputation as a music historian. As a freelance contributor, he wrote thousands of articles for national publications including ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'', ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...
'', ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'', ''
Musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
'', '' Us'', ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'', and ''Country Song Roundup''. In 1982 he became the first country music reporter and critic for ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'', continuing in the position until 1986. Also from 1982 to 1993, he was a music reporter for Nashville's daily newspaper, ''
The Tennessean ''The Tennessean'' (known until 1972 as ''The Nashville Tennessean'') is a daily newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. Its circulation area covers 39 counties in Middle Tennessee and eight counties in southern Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett, w ...
''. He was editor-at-large for ''
Country Music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
'' magazine, which ceased publication in 2003. He is credited for the
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
for at least 75 albums, including the recording of the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' movie soundtrack. He has written and co-authored several books on country music and its history. With his wife, Mary Agnes Bufwack, an
anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
and social worker, he co-wrote ''Finding Her Voice: The Saga of Women in Country Music'', which was awarded the
ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
Deems Taylor Award Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American composer, radio commentator, music critic, and author. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." He was ...
for music-book excellence. Oermann also has worked in film, television, and radio, primarily as a writer for documentaries and sometimes as a host. He was a judge on the
USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...
reality TV show ''
Nashville Star ''Nashville Star'' is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the l ...
'' for the series' first season which aired in 2003.


Works


Books

* *


Film and video

*''Music Row Video'' (
UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
, 1983–1984), nationally syndicated television series on country music, written and co-hosted by Oermann *''The Women of Country'' (
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, 1993), television series written by Oermann *'' America's Music: The Roots of Country'' ( TBS, 1996), documentary film series directed by
Tom Neff Thomas Linden Neff (born 1953)-, known as Tom Neff, is an American film executive, director and producer, born in Chicago, Illinois. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Education Neff received his Bachelor of Arts from Lawrence University with a ma ...
and Jerry Aronson, written by Neff and Robert K. Oermann *''The Black Experience in Country Music'' (1998), documentary written and directed by Oermann *''SoundTable'' (1999), documentary written and directed by Oermann *''Century of Country'' ( TNN, 1999), Oermann was historical consultant


Radio

*''The Conway Twitty Story'' (1980), syndicated radio program, scripted by Oermann *''Album Country'' (1988), syndicated radio program, scripted by Oermann *''Music City's New Country'' (1991–1994), radio show written and hosted by Oermann for
WSM-FM WSM-FM (95.5 MHz) is a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a country music format, with an emphasis on recordings released since the 1990s. From 1967 until it was sold to Cumulus Media in 2003, WSM-FM was the sister of the ...
in Nashville, also syndicated in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...


References


External links


Robert K. Oermann archive at ''MusicRow'' website

Robert K. "Bob" Oermann Oral History Interview
, November 20, 1987, Country Music Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Oermann, Robert K. American music journalists Living people Writers from Pittsburgh Journalists from Pittsburgh Syracuse University alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni USA Today journalists Year of birth missing (living people) Judges in American reality television series Country music historians