American composer Peter Garland was born in Portland, Maine, in 1952. He began composing before the age of 20 while studying under Harold Budd and James Tenney at Cal Arts in the early 1970s. During this time, Garland also studied performance art and video with Wolfgang Stoerchle, and American literature with poet Clayton Eshleman. Garland has had at least four recordings of his compositions released by labels including Tzadik, New Albion and Avant. In addition to composing, Garland is also a musicologist and essayist. As a musicologist, he specializes in traditional U.S. and Mexican musics and 20th century American composers. He researched while living in Mexican villages for some years during the 1970s and 1990s. Garland spent the '80s in Santa Fe, where he had his own performing ensemble and could also study Southwestern Indian and Hispanic musical traditions. In 1991, he ceased publishing Soundings Press, a unique source of new music information and new composers' scores. He then traveled the world for four years, visiting twelve countries over five continents. These travels yielded Garland's third book of published essays, Gone Walkabout. Garland also authored a six volume work, Collected Studies of Nancarrow & Paul Bowles. In 1997, Garland returned to Mexico to compose, work on his fourth book of essays and study Jarocho music and culture. The Tzadik label released an album of solo piano works in early 2000 called the Days Run Away.