Stephen Wade grew up in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s where, early on, he came to know a number of vernacular musicians who had moved north to the city from the Mississippi Delta and the Southern Appalachians.
In 1972, Wade also began accompanying Brown's teacher, Doc Hopkins, the celebrated Kentucky-born, WLS National Barn Dance performer.
They, along with other scholars, collectors, and performers, encouraged him to seek out traditional musicians elsewhere, as well as to research American humor and folk tales from both living sources and archival resources.
After a short run at New York's Century Theatre (10/21/80 - 11/30/80),[1] Wade brought Banjo Dancing to Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage in 1981 where he was initially booked for three weeks.
Stephen Wade has written the award-winning book, The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience,[3] (which includes a companion CD in the cloth edition), published in August 2012 by the University of Illinois Press.
Recognition for The Beautiful Music All Around Us has continued, and in November 2016, Wade became the first-ever individual to receive the Judith McCulloh Public Sector Award[6] from the Society for Ethnomusicology.