Ned Sublette (born 1951 in Lubbock, Texas) is an American composer, musician, record producer and musicologist. Sublette studied Spanish Classical Guitar with Hector Garcia at the University of New Mexico and with Emilio Pujol in Spain. He studied composition with Kenneth Gaburo at the University of California, San Diego. He grew up in Portales, New Mexico, moved to New York City in 1976, and has worked with John Cage, LaMonte Young, Glenn Branca, and Peter Gordon.
As a performer, Sublette is probably best known for fusing country-western and afro-Caribbean styles including salsa, cumbia and rumba, as reflected on the 1999 album "Cowboy Rumba". He is also a leading scholar of Cuban music. His label Qbadisc releases Cuban music in the United States and he has produced Latin musicians including Ritmo Oriental and Issac Delgado and has co-produced Public Radio International's "Afropop Worldwide" show.
During the 1980s, he led the Ned Sublette Band, which played country with Cuban stylings. His "Cowboy Rumba" reached number one on World Music Charts Europe during December, 1999.[1] In 2006, Willie Nelson released Sublette's song "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other" in the wake of the success of Brokeback Mountain.
His book on Cuban music, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo (ISBN 1-55652-516-8) was published in 2004.The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square, was published in 2008 by Lawrence Hill Books. The Year Before the Flood: A Story of New Orleans published in 2009 by Lawrence Hill Books continues the history of New Orleans cultures and music.
Sublette is a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow.