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Latest revision as of 16:17, 4 October 2024

Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).

According to the booklet accompanying Carpenter's LP, the story behind the tune is one of a difficult adjustment to a forced change in Ernie's life. He had worked most of his life for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in Clarksburg, prior to retiring in 1972 to his home in Braxton County, West Virginia.

He was a regular visitor during his working years to his homeplace on the Elk River, and was witness to the planning and construction of the Sutton Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the river during the 1950's and 1960's.

Unfortunately, this resulted in the flooding of his boyhood home and the surrounding area, despite the efforts of himself and neighbors to forestall the project through a lobbyist. He refused the government's initial offer for his land (they didn't offer him anything for his house), and took the case to court.

He was able to gain a marked increase in the money he eventually was paid through this process, although he had to pay legal fees out of his pocket. He stayed in his Elk River homestead while the dam was being constructed, even though most of his neighbors had already left. Workmen blocked the roads in and out of the area, but Carpenter found alternate routes until they too were closed off.

"I was the last person out of there," he said," I went ahead then and tore the old place town and brought it up here. Part of its in this house." Of the tune, he remarked: "I was sittin' here one day, an' I had the blues. I reckon as bad as anybody could, thinkin' about my old homeplace up on the Elk River. I started sawin' on the fiddle an' that's what I came up with."

...more at: Elk River Blues - full Score(s) and Annotations

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{SheetMusic
-|f_track=Jenny Nettles.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Jenny Nettles.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Lovers Knot.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=Jenny Nettles
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Jenny_Nettles_(1)
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
 |f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/user-75630746-880803498 Jonathan Taylor]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes= She placed her hand into her bag and pulled out the Lover’s knot.
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=Allegedly, as her fame grew through the popularity of the song, her grave was pillaged for keepsakes of the ill fated young woman. Her skull and bones were found barely beneath the surface as two gold earrings and twenty four beads were taken from her grave. The goods were taken to Edinburgh jeweller Mr Fraser of St Andrew’s street.
+|f_caption=According to the booklet accompanying Carpenter's LP, the story behind the tune is one of a difficult adjustment to a forced change in Ernie's life.
-|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/user-75630746-880803498/jenny-nettles Soundcloud]
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Jenny_Nettles_(1) | '''Jenny Nettles''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-Jenny Nettles was a comely and fetching maiden of the village of Strathmiglo, who fell deeply in love with a Highland Officer attached to the command of the Rob Roy. The famous outlaw chief had invaded the countryside for a time but was forced to retreat to the mountains for safety, and when the clansmen marched off Jenny was deserted by her lover. In bitterness and pain from her lost love, Jenny hung herself by a roadside tree. As a suicide, Jenny Nettles could not be buried in hallowed ground, nor could a coffin be fashioned for her eternal rest. She was buried in the middle of the night in an unmarked grave. Her final resting place is at a crossroads of two forest paths on the north side of the Lomond Hills in Fife, a few minutes' walk out of Strathmiglo. Local lore has it that Jennie's ghost wanders the muir on bright moonlit nights, looking for her lost Highland love. Jenny Nettles is also a nickname for the harmless and familiar "daddy longlegs" or cellar spider, for a stinging nettle, and, on the Isle of Man, for a jellyfish.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-Stenhouse [1] received the following anecdote from an Edinburgh jeweler, a Mr. Fraser of St. Andrew's Street, regarding some reputed relics of Jenny's that came into his possession:
+According to the booklet accompanying Carpenter's LP, the story behind the tune is one of a difficult adjustment to a forced change in Ernie's life. He had worked most of his life for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in Clarksburg, prior to retiring in 1972 to his home in Braxton County, West Virginia.
-Gold ear-ring and bead of a necklace which belonged to the famed Jenny Nettles of Scottish song, whom tradition mentions committed suicide, and was buried between two lairds' lands near the Lomond hills, a cairn or heap of stones being raised to mark the spot, according to ancient usage. A stranger, happening to visit a farmer in that neighbourhood, was accidentally informed of the above circumstance, and was shown the place where the cairn once stood. Prompted by the love of antiquarian research, he immediately commenced digging, when, at the depth of eighteen inches, he found the skull and other bones of poor Jenny (which must have remained inhumed at least a century), along with two ear-rings and twenty-four beads. One of the ear-rings was given to a gentleman who went to France, and twenty-three of the beads were distributed among various persons. 1830.--(C.K.S.) .... (C.K.S. are the initials of Stenhouse's contemporary, Scottish antiquarian and artist Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, 1781-1851).
+He was a regular visitor during his working years to his homeplace on the Elk River, and was witness to the planning and construction of the Sutton Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the river during the 1950's and 1960's.
+Unfortunately, this resulted in the flooding of his boyhood home and the surrounding area, despite the efforts of himself and neighbors to forestall the project through a lobbyist. He refused the government's initial offer for his land (they didn't offer him anything for his house), and took the case to court.
+He was able to gain a marked increase in the money he eventually was paid through this process, although he had to pay legal fees out of his pocket. He stayed in his Elk River homestead while the dam was being constructed, even though most of his neighbors had already left.  Workmen blocked the roads in and out of the area, but Carpenter found alternate routes until they too were closed off.
+"I was the last person out of there," he said," I went ahead then and tore the old place town and brought it up here. Part of its in this house." Of the tune, he remarked: "I was sittin' here one day, an' I had the blues. I reckon as bad as anybody could, thinkin' about my old homeplace up on the Elk River. I started sawin' on the fiddle an' that's what I came up with."
 }}