Ed Ward (writer)

Edmund "Ed" Ward (born 1948) is an American writer and radio commenter, known since 1986 as the "rock-and-roll historian" for NPR's program Fresh Air and one of the original founders of Austin's South by Southwest music festival.
Ward grew up in Eastchester, New York. He attended Antioch College, and began his music-writing career in 1965. He has been on the staff of Crawdaddy! (1967), Rolling Stone (1970), and Creem (1971–1977) magazines, and of the Austin American-Statesman and Austin Chronicle (where he has been honored as part of their annual "Restaurant Poll", lending his name to their "Ed Ward Memorial Sandwich" award). He was the co-author (with Geoffrey Stokes and Ken Tucker) of Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll (1983) and wrote content with Rashod Ollison for the PBS website for the documentary series Get Up, Stand Up: The Story of Pop and Protest. He was based in Berlin, Germany, between 1993 and 2008, when he moved to Montpellier, France. In 2013 he repatriated and is now living in Austin. In addition to his rock-and-roll history lessons on Fresh Air he contributes to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and various music magazines.