Table of Contents

Prologue: To Sound American
The Hobo in Partch's Early Life and Aesthetic
Interlude 1: Transients and Migrants
The Transient Journey
Bitter Music
A Knight of the Road
Interlude 2: Hoboes
U.S. Highball: Becoming a Musical Hobo
A Newsboy Letter
Trading on a Hobo Image
The Strangest Kind of Hobo
Epilogue: To Be American
Glossary of Instruments and Hobo Slang
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

Compelling study . . .of hobo, transient and migrant cultures in the United States. For the first time in musicological literature, affirms the cultural and musical significance of Partch's U.S. hobo music.
*JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN MUSIC*

Shows us how Partch kept experimenting with varying strategies of self-definition in order to find some social acceptance for a music that was radically original. A portrait of America between the wars, as refracted through an artist determined to transmit the American experience purely as he found it. . . . Seems unlikely to be superseded.
*TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSIC*

An interesting sociological study of the music of Harry Partch. The chapters dedicated specifically to the history of the hobo are as illuminating as those dedicated to Partch's music. Include many fine photographs.
*CHOICE*

Deploys an array of little-known primary sources. . . . Granade's research is deeply sourced, his analyses are probing, and his book substantially advances Partch studies in numerous ways. . . . Presents a rich bounty of information about Partch and his attitudes toward his patrons and contemporaries. A welcome supplement to Gilmore's [long-standard] biography, matching its predecessor's depth and exceeding its accessibility.
*AMERICAN MUSIC*

Contributes an important, largely overlooked perspective to the modest but growing Partch literature. . . . Accomplishes the difficult task of balancing biography with microhistory. . . . [Chapter 5] does tremendous work and, in my opinion, is in itself worth the price of the book. . . . Set[s] a high standard for future Partch scholarship.
*MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOC. NOTES*

Granade shows that the grim predicament of the transient population during the Depression depicted in films, the novels of Steinbeck and the songs of Woody Guthrie, is also central to Partch. Provides new material, including details of his friendships and his contacts with other composers. Well produced and cheap at the price.
*GRAMOPHONE*

Harry Partch, Hobo Composer is almost epic in its panoramic view of an American subculture as seen through the lens of one artist's life. It should find a ready audience among composers and scholars of American music, not to mention the legions of microtonalists who look to Partch as their primogenitor and patron saint. An important book.
*Michael Hicks, author of Henry Cowell, Bohemian*