Beth E. Levy won the Music in American Culture Award from the American Musicological Society for her book Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West, (University of California Press, 2012).  

Each year the award honors “a book of exceptional merit that both illuminates some important aspect of the music of the United States and places that music in a rich cultural context. The goal of this award is to recognize the best writing on music in American culture, regardless of the source or intended audience of that writing; hence work by a broad range of authors—including performing musicians, journalists, and music critics, as well as academic scholars …”

In 2012, Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West won the UC Press Exceptional First Book Award, given at the 22nd Annual PEN Center USA Literary Awards Festival.

The publication of the book was supported in part by the American Musicological Society and by the UC Press Authors Imprint fund for outstanding first books.