Going to a Free State
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ABC Notation
Mandolin Tablature
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Going to a Free State", also known as "Going to the Free State", "Gone to the Free State"<br> or "Clinton" is an old-time breakdown in A Major. It is played in standard or AEae fiddle<br> tuning. The parts are played AB.<br> The "Clinton" title for the melody was a misnomer by 'revival' fiddlers in the 1970's.<br> The source for the tune and correct title is northeast Virginia fiddler John Ashby and<br> the title refers to the attempt of Fauquir County Virginia to break away from<br> the rest of the state to set up a 'free state' (a name that refers to the anti-tax<br> sentiment of its residents. "Free State Hornpipe" refers to the same event.)<br> There was also a community of free African-American people located near what is now<br> Albemarle County. The land was known as "Free State" since at least the early 1870s,<br> but the origins of the community extend back to 1788, when Amy Bowles Farrow, a free<br> African-American woman, purchased the original 224 acres of land.<br> The tune was printed in Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002) and<br> Songer & Curley's Portland Collection, vol. 2 (2005).<br> It was recorded by John Ashby and the Free State Ramblers on Down on Ashby's Farm (1974) and<br> John Ashby & the Free State Ramblers (2007).<br> <br>
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