Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expected to spend a day carrying their canoes and equipment around the Great Falls on the Missouri River. Instead, it took a month, as Lewis, Clark, and the 30 or so members of the Corps of Discovery portaged their gear over the rough land. It was grueling labor. Yet somehow, at the end of a long day, they found the energy for music and dance. The expedition had two fiddlers--Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson. As Lewis wrote in his journal one evening during that long portage, "Such as were able to shake a foot amused themselves in dancing on the green to the music of the violin, which Cruzatte plays extremely well."

This CD explores the type of music they might have heard, including 30 songs and tunes from the period. Together, they cover each major step of the way, from President Thomas Jefferson's idea for the journey to Lewis and Clark's return, pulling the listener along in the story and providing a new perspective on the history of the famous explorers.