Patrick A. Brown, comments and selected references

Several chanters and a few sets are known, and in private hands. The chanters are generally well thought of. There is a fair amount of newspaper coverage about Brown in his later years. Also some unverifiable stories about his methods, most of which came from Gene Frain, son of Owen Frain, a Boston musician who knew Patsy Brown. He was said to have obtained ivory for pipemaking from the elephant keepers at the Franklin Park Zoo, which is not far from where he lived. He may have had arthritis, which provoked him to make chanters with flute-like keys to cover the finger holes. He got the keys from a friend who worked at the Haynes Flute Company, Boston. Brown was supposed to have worked at the Gillette Safety Razor Company in Boston and made bagpipe reeds from razor blade steel. More than one source says that Brown made his own lathe and other tools for pipemaking. Musicologist Bessaraboff said of Brown's work, "The man's a genius and doesn't know it." [from the Crescendo article]

Nick Whitmer April 2020
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Na Píobairí Uilleann website, 19 photos of a P. Brown chanter. Accessed April 2020.
http://pipers.ie/source/gallery/?galleryId=119&pageIndex=0
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Schott, Leo conversation April 22, 2020 [Gene Frain as source of stories about Brown's methods.]
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Strachan, Pearl "Tunes of Old Ireland Get a Hearing" [Patrick Brown and Daniel J. Murphy; discovery by Bessaraboff] Boston MA Christian Science Monitor Aug. 31, 1938 p. 11 column 2
From microfilm
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