Partch exemplified musical liberation, casting off European tradition when it burdened him artistically. Yet for all of his rebelliousness, he "never thought of [his] work as revolutionary, but only as evolutionary," insisting that "meaningfulness must have roots." Barstow, a watershed Monophonic work, was based on "very unusual inscriptions on a highway railing" in that southern California town in 1940. This "hobo concerto" was first written for voice and adapted guitar the following year; it went through several revisions until its final 1968 version for two voices and four instruments. This volume presents a facsimile of this version (long out of print), a new transcription into expanded standard notation, and an essay on Barstow's background and evolution.