Bruno Nettl, rojen v Pragi leta 1930, je "profesor emeritus glasbe in antropologije" na University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, ZDA. Doktorat je pridobil na Indiana University. Čeprav je njegov domicil že desetletja University of Illinois, je kot gostujoči profesor deloval na številnih univerzah v ZDA in drugje po svetu. Prejel je vrhunske nagrade za dosežke s področij etnomuzikologije, muzikologije, antropologije in folkloristike Med njegove najpogosteje citirane knjige sodijo: North American Indian Musical Styles (1954); An Introduction to Folk Music in the United States (1960); Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology (1964); Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents (1965); Eight Urban Musical Cultures [ed.] (1978); The Study of Ethnomusicology: 29 Issues and Concepts (1983); The Western Impact on World Music (1985); The Radif of Persian Music: Studies of Structure and Cultural Context (1987); Blackfoot Musical Thought: Comparative Perspectives (1989); Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music: Essays on the History of Ethnomusicology [co-ed.] (1991); Excursions in World Music [co-ed.] (1992); New Perspectives on Improvisation [ed.] (1992); Heartland Excursions: Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music (1995); Encounters in Ethnomusicology, a Memoir (2002) and The Study of Ethnomusicology: 31 Issues and Concepts (2005). Marsikatera med njimi je bila prevedena v druge jezike.