Annotation:Going to a Free State
Tune properties and standard notation
GOING TO A FREE STATE. AKA and see "Clinton." Old-Time, Breakdown. A Major. Standard tuning or AEae (fiddle). AB. The title "Clinton" for the melody is a misnomer stemming from a confusion in labeling by 'revival' fiddlers in the 1970's. As the tune spread, so did the erroneous title. The source for the tune and correct title is northeast Virginia fiddler John Ashby, and the title refers to the ill-fated attempt of that part of Virginia to break away from the rest of the state to set up a 'free state' (a name that refers to the anti-tax sentiment of its residents. "Free State Hornpipe" refers to the same event.). The Volo Bogtrotters play a similar tune called "Apple Knocker."
Source for notated version: Kerry Blech (Florida) [Silberberg].
Printed sources: Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 53. Songer/Curley (Portland Collection, vol. 2), 2005; p. 71
Recorded sources: County 745, John Ashby - "Down on Ashby's Farm" (1974).