Skunk In The Barbershop: A Song History

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"Skunk In The Barbershop" is the sixth of the fifteen tunes listed for John Keane's 15 Originals, a book of original tunes published by Fingers Of Steel and offered on DulcimerDownloads as a 43-page PDF.[1] The listing credits every tune in the book to Keane as composer and sets this one in DAD tuning.[1] Keane's DulcimerDownloads artist page presents him together with Karen Keane as Shreveport, Louisiana, performers whose styles run from Louisiana tradition, folk and bluegrass to comic novelty numbers and Delta blues.[2] According to the same page, both earned music education degrees at Northeast Louisiana University, now the University of Louisiana-Monroe, and the pair have composed a number of books and CDs of their own music for mountain dulcimer and Native American flute.[2] Nothing in the sources consulted here records when the piece was written or what lies behind its title.[1][2]

Crowded barber's shop with barbers shaving customers and cutting a boy's hair, a dog and two black cats on the floor

After Thomas Rowlandson, A Barber's Shop, etching and aquatint, hand colored, c. 1771–1958. A barber's shop with no skunk in sight, shown in fun; it has no connection to the tune.

Our book that contains the song "Skunk In The Barbershop"

Sources

  1. Fingers Of Steel: "John Keane, 15 Originals".
  2. DulcimerDownloads: "John Keane".
  3. Image: After Thomas Rowlandson, A Barber's Shop, etching and aquatint, hand colored, c. 1771–1958. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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