Old Clarksville

Old Clarksville (mp3) (pdf)

I grew up in Clarksville, Indiana long after Meriwether Lewis & William Clark met at the Clarksville cabin of George Rogers Clark to begin their expedition. In my youth "old" Clarksville was that part of town that had existed before World War II. The part where my father had lived in his youth and my parents had lived when they were newlyweds. The town swimming pool and Andy and John's grocery store were there.

Much later I learned of the even older Clarksville that had been founded in 1783 near the Falls of the Ohio and settled by George Rogers Clark and his former comrades in arms. In recent years much has been done to uncover some of that history and visitors can now visit the Falls of the Ohio State Park and the Old Clarksville Site for a glimpse of the past.

This tune was written in March of 2003 as a solo mandolin piece and that's how it is presented, warts and all, here. I could pretend that the missed bass note near the end of the piece was an artistic choice but, really, I just missed it. Contratopia has also played this piece, without a title, a couple of times as a waltz at dances.