Dr. Z is one of very few scholars studying cowboy music of the American west and her Ph.D. dissertation has provided a foundation from which to build a stronger understanding of the development of early cowboy music in the late 19th century and how cowboy music influenced film and popular music through the 1920s.

​

Dr. Z has presented her work at various conferences throughout North America, including for the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the Western History Association.  Her work has also received funding through the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the Rainwater Fund for American Music, among others.