About Rob Collier

Rob Collier is a Milwaukee-based Beatles scholar, composer, music theorist, bassist, and educator. As a staff writer for Bass Musician Magazine, he has written articles on the playing styles of bassists Paul McCartney, Phil Lesh, Rick Danko, Donald “Duck” Dunn, and Carl Radle. He teaches courses in music theory, rock & roll history, and songwriting at Alverno College.

Rob regularly presents in the Beatles area at the Pop Culture Association (PCA) Conference. Topics of his presentations have included McCartney's bass playing, the Beatles' understanding of music theory, and analysis of music by the Beatles and Wings. His paper “It Isn’t Silly at All: Exploring the Depths of ‘Silly Love Songs’” was recently published in Rock Music Studies. 

His compositions have been released on Geology Records, Ephem Aural, Noumenal Loom, Hand Drawn Hand, auralgamiSOUNDS, and Ongoing Box. Rob has been an artist-in-residence at the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony in Woodstock, New York (2021) and Ragdale in Lake Forest, Illinois (2025).

Rob's other research interests include the Grateful Dead, Phish, Peter Gabriel, progressive rock, and the role of the electric bass in rock music. 

Rob earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Maryland in 2010. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bellarmine University and a Master of Music in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Louisville. He plays in a Milwaukee-based Grateful Dead cover band called Deadelijk.

Contact Rob at: Bobjenga@gmail.com