A BRIEF OVERVIEW:
      I   — Thomas Albert Adler — was born in Chicago in 1947 to my Viennese refugee parents, Richard F. Adler, M.D., and Alice Blau Adler, M.D.  I have an older brother, Peter, and a younger one, Bob.

      I went to the University of Chicago Laboratory High School (U-High!), then I graduated from the University of Illinois; and I subsequently studied folklore formally in the 1970s at the Cooperstown Graduate Programs for an M.A.  There I met my wife-to-be, Betsy Mosby; and then we both earned Ph.D. degrees in Folklore at Indiana University. [See Vita for many details]

       After teaching at the University of Kentucky, I worked in a variety of information technology positions, including electronic publishing, digital video and website creation, before becoming the first Executive Director of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky in June, 1994. Later, after 1996, I worked for orthopaedic surgeons in both private practice and at the University of Kentucky, from which I retired in 2013. 

      My lifelong devotion to bluegrass music led both to my participation in a lengthy series of active bands, and to the 2011 publication of Bean Blossom—my book-length history of Bill Monroe’s music park in Bean Blossom, Indiana.

      Now retired from the University of Kentucky, I try to stay active in folklore research and consulting; some of that activity is reflected here in my curriculum vitae. I am a strong supporter of KCHEA. the Kentucky Craft History and Education Association. I play a 5-string Osborne Chief banjo built by renowned Kentucky craftsman Frank Neat, and also an Osborne Krako #16, created by Lincoln Hensley and Judy Osborne. And I also have continued to perform recently in the central Kentucky area with the four-piece bluegrass groups Blue Eagle Band and Liberty Road.