Edmund P. "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.[1]
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).[2] 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.[3] He was based in Berlin, Germany, between 1993 and 2008, when he moved to Montpellier, France. 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.