Harry Partch was a hobo composer. At least, that was the impression held by most musicians living and working in New York City during World War II. It was an image that made him moderately successful at the time and inspired most of his music from the period, but it is also one that has clouded Partch's biography. Seeking to view this pivotal time anew, this chapter picks up the threads of Partch's life from completing Barstow and making his “transcontinental hobo trip” in September 1941 to his League of Composers' concert in the spring of 1944 and subsequent move to Wisconsin. This period is crucial in Partch's reception: during this time he formulated his hobo persona, first articulated his particular brand of conceptual musical exoticism, and cultivated close personal and professional friendships with composers from Otto Luening to Douglas Moore that helped him realize he would likely always work outside the musical community, no matter his preferences or his efforts to gain access to its circle.

Partch's nomadic lifestyle makes reconstructing his experiences in the early 1940s no easy task. Although he did save letters, drawings, and writings if they held special significance to him, in many cases the record is patchy at best. Furthermore, he was not given to focusing on the past.