Kevin O'Brien

Kevin O'Brien is a Part-Time Faculty member in the Department of Music at the University of Pittsburgh, affiliated with the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. He holds a BA from James Madison University and an MM from the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on humor, improvisation, and American popular music, with a master's thesis on 19th- and early 20th-century comic song performance in American parlors. He has presented at historical, ethnomusicological, and medievalist conferences on topics like vaudeville, Jamaican hip-hop, troubadours, and gender studies.

His current research bridges academic inquiry with performance, emphasizing improvisation and comedy songwriting. He regularly performs original solo acts and revue-style shows at Pittsburgh theaters and national comedy festivals. He teaches Creative Musicianship and was awarded the 2013 Dietrich School Research Fellowship.

No specific articles or grants are listed, but his work highlights interdisciplinary connections between music history, performance, and cultural studies.