David B. Pruett is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where he has taught a variety of courses since January 2004, including popular music in America, Western music history, world music survey, music appreciation, Music of the Middle East, and applied Middle Eastern percussion. Before joining the faculty at MTSU, he received his M.A. in German and M. M. in Musicology (Ethnomusicology) with a certificate in world music at the Florida State University in 2000 where he completed his Ph.D. in Musicology (Ethnomusicology) in 2007. He received his B.M. in music performance (percussion) and a B.A. (equivalent) in German at Appalachian State University in 1996. He has participated in five study abroad programs, totaling over three years in Germany.

While at FSU, he taught courses in world music, folk and popular musics in North America, namely those with cultural ties to the American South, and courses in beginning, intermediate, and advanced German language. His master's thesis is entitled "Preserving Cultural Identity: WPAQ and the Dissemination of Bluegrass and Old-Time Music." Pruett’s dissertation, entitled “MuzikMafia: Community, Identity, and Change from the Nashville Scene to the Popular Mainstream,” derives from his three-year study of the Nashville multi-platinum-selling phenomenon known as MuzikMafia.

Pruett’s areas of specialization are American folk and popular musics, music of the Middle-East and India (Hindustan), Carl Orff and the Güntherschule, and German language and literature. Secondary areas of interest include global popular music, second language acquisition, and study abroad. His publications include articles in the Country Music Annual 2002, The Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (2005), four entries in the Encyclopedia of Appalachia (2005), Discourses in Music 4:1 (Fall 2002), and an article on Carl Orff in the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 24:3 (April 2003). Since spring 2000 he has presented approximately 30 academic papers at meetings for the Society for Ethnomusicology, the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, the International Bluegrass Symposium, the International Country Music Conference, and Tennessee's CMENC. Pruett is currently on the Board of Advisors to the Southern Music Hall of Fame and is a member of the national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda.