Brun Campbell was an American composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

. Born Sanford Brunson Campbell in Oberlin, Kansas

Oberlin, Kansas

Oberlin is a city in and the county seat of Decatur County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,788.-History:...

, he ran away to Oklahoma City

Oklahoma city

Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...

 when he was fifteen and met Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...

. For the next decade, he made his living as a traveling pianist in the Midwestern

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

 and Southern

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 United States. In 1908, he married and settled down to become a barber

Barber

A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....

.

Toward the end of his life, he wrote about ragtime and made recordings. He died in Venice, California.

Compositions

None of his compositions were copyrighted or published during his lifetime. However, they became known from recordings he made in the 1940s and early 1950s.

In 1993, Richard Egan, Jr.

Richard Egan (composer)

Richard Allen Egan Jr. is a ragtime pianist, composer, transcriber, and arranger.-Bio:From the ages of 8 to 12 Richard took rudimentary piano lessons from a local church organist, reaching the second year level of studies by his fourth year...

 published Brun Campbell: The Music of "The Ragtime Kid", a collection of transcriptions of Campbell pieces.

In 2000, David Thomas Roberts

David Thomas Roberts

David Thomas Roberts is an American composer and musician, known primarily as a modern ragtime composer. Roberts is also a painter in a primitivist style....

 recorded an album of Campbell's music, which was released on CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 by Pianomania Music Publishing of Roseville, California

Roseville, California

-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Roseville had a population of 118,788. The population density was 3,279.4 people per square mile...

.

• Barber Shop Rag
• Blue Rag
• Campbell Cakewalk
• Chestnut Street in the 90s
• Essay in Ragtime
• Ginger Snap Rag
• Grandpa's Stomp
• Rendezvous Rag
• Tent Show Rag
• Reminiscences
• Slow and Easy
• Salome Slow Drag
• Brun's Slow Dog
• Short Rag
• Frankie and Johnny Rag
• Grandpa's Stomp
• Lulu White
• Barrelhouse Rag

Works by others

Brun Campbell is the subject of three novels by Larry Karp: The Ragtime Kid, The King of Ragtime, and The Ragtime Fool.