When Claude Barlow arrived in New York City on his sole trip to the Americas, the only other city he wanted to visit was Oskaloosa, Iowa. Why that was remains one of the unsolved concatenations of Barlow’s somewhat desultory biography. Many have chalked up the long rumored mystery visit to simple chicanery of some stripe, but recently an artifact was uncovered in a barn behind a house in Oskaloosa. It was a fragment of a score written and arranged by Barlow. Experts have confirmed that the work closely resembles Barlow’s in every respect and have hailed the finding as a rare addendum to the oeuvre. The good fortune of it being in America allowed it to escape the Barlow burnings* in Europe that summer. As such, it is an unwelcome addition to the Barlow canon.
*From The Life and Times of Claude Barlow – Volume 12 The Hater Years by Harry L. Dinkle
