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Biography

Lis joined the ������Ƶ music faculty in 1987; in his early years, Lis concentrated on music composition; he received a commission from the Dale Warland Singers for his folksong-reworking Pretty Polly and his compositions were performed at chamber-music concerts and composer-festivals in the United States and Canada, by ensembles including the South Dakota Symphony.

Since the mid-to-late 1990s, Lis has concentrated on researching popular music of the 20th century, particularly the spread of the Hawaiian steel guitar into early country music of the 1920s-1940s. Lis has spoken about country music and Cajun music on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio in the UK and also written articles and columns concerning the steel guitar, Hawaiian music, country music and instrument-museums and galleries for The Journal of Kentucky Studies and The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association Quarterly in the U.S. and BMG (Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar), Aloha Dream and the British Steelies Society Newsletter in the UK.

Lis has also been a frequent presenter at Nashville’s International Country Music Conference; recent presentation-titles have included “Kalina Boogie: Jay D. Harlin of Indianapolis and the Birth of the Pedal Steel Guitar” and “Fine Pickin’: Semie Moseley, Joe Maphis, Barbara Mandrell, and the Mosrite Double-Neck Guitar in South Dakota’s National Music Museum.”

Lis has also given presentations on country music and the steel guitar at public libraries in eastern South Dakota. In September 2019, Lis appeared on South Dakota Public Television’s “Dakota Life” program, discussing the history of country music.