Padraig o Keefe,ws an educated man,the son of a schoolteacher,he himself became a schoolteacher,after he resigned as a schoolteacher,he taught the fiddle,travelling to peoples houses by foot or cycling.
one of his pupils Jack Connell said that he studied the fiddle playing of Fitzgerald of Lacka and of CorneyDrewfrom near Scarta glen,who in turn got music from Gradda,A travelling teacher from Tipperary.
Padraig apparently learned music theory,and possibly was influenced by 78 recordings of the times.
there is an excellent book by David Lyth,called bowing styles in Irish Fiddle Playing,which has much information on O Keefe available from Comhaltas,
To describe O Keefe as an elderly country gentlemen,is a poor and misleading description,he was an educated man, a schoolmaster by profession,and a man who studied traditional music seriously.Dick Miles