Album Notes

The journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition tell one of the greatest adventure stories in the history of the United States of America. The perils and hardships faced by the men of the “Corps of Discovery” has made many journal readers wonder how they may have fared if they had been in their moccasins.
One remarkable story throughout the journey is the presence of two fiddlers and the music they played not only for the men of the Corps but also for the native tribes they met. Fiddle music was used as a diplomatic tool in developing relationships with the native tribes Lewis and Clark encountered.

John Allen has been playing traditional fiddle tunes for over thirty years, learning in the traditional way “by ear” with no formal violin training. He first began researching the fiddle music of the Lewis and Clark era in 1988 when hired to portray Pierre Cruzatte, one of the Expeditions fiddlers, in an outdoor historical pageant “Journey to the Pacific”, in Seaside, Oregon.
Unfortunately the titles to any of the tunes played on the expedition were not documented in the journals. However, fiddle tune books and manuscripts from the era were able to date quite a few tunes already in John’s repertoire. John began working as an interpretive ranger at Fort Clatsop National Memorial near Astoria, Oregon in 1992 and continued his research. Due to many requests for the music he was playing in his programs at Fort Clatsop, John developed the idea for this recording. Fort Clatsop was the 1805 to 1806 winter encampment of the expedition. John and his family have lived within two miles of Fort Clatsop for the last 25 years, on land the expedition may have walked over.
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Most of the tunes on this recording are dated from, or before, the Lewis and Clark era. A couple of the tunes could not be dated but are related to the time of the expedition. One tune is a composition by John blending his vision of Cruzatte playing music with some of the natives they met and the percussive instruments they played.
All of the music on this album is performed using only instruments mentioned in the journals.
The 20 page booklet with the album includes notes on the music of the expedition along with many quotes from the journals for reference. Photos from the Fort show John at “work”, dressed in buckskins and playing the fiddle.
John is joined on the album by longtime musical friends, Roger McKay, Porter Dodge, David “Crabo” Crabtree, Rebecca Rubens Crabtree and John’s wife Mary.
Roger McKay’s artwork graces the cover.