Dr. Cannon’s research investigates the changing practices of a genre of traditional music called don ca tài tu. As a recipient of the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship, he conducted 15 months of extensive fieldwork research in Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta in 2008 and 2009 and returns every year to continue his research. In 2011, he completed his doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan on charismatic musicianship in Vietnam titled “Making Tradition Charismatic: Music, Memory and Alliance in Contemporary Southern Vietnam” under the guidance of Professor Joseph Lam.