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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

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 {{SheetMusic
-|f_track=Roslin Castle.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Roslin Castle.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Roslin.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=Roslin Castle
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Roslin_Castle
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
-|f_section=X5
+|f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/robmackillop Rob MacKillop]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes= Roslin Castle, Midlothian.
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=The tune was the melody most often associated with funerals during the Revolution, and notes that legend has it that it was played by Scottish bagpipers stationed in New York at the time, in honor of the castle at Roslyn, Midlothian, Scotland.
+|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/robmackillop/20-roslin-castle Soundcloud]
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Roslin_Castle | '''Roslin Castle''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-The title is variously given as Rosland, Rosline, Roseland, Roslin and Rosslyn Castle. The melody is a British march used by the English army during the (American) Revolutionary War period, says Winscott (1970).
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-Camus (1976) states the tune was the melody most often associated with funerals during the Revolution, and notes that legend has it that it was played by Scottish bagpipers stationed in New York at the time, in honor of the castle at Roslyn, Midlothian, Scotland.
+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.
-It was perhaps in a funereal state of mind that British troops in 1781 played the tune as they marched out the small Long Island, New York, village of Hempstead Harbor. The oppressed residents, however, rejoiced at the sound, and remembering this, in 1844 their descendants changed the name of their village to Roslyn. The Continental forces also employed the tune as a memorial air.
+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.
-For example, during the 1779 campaign against the Iroquois Six Nations two men had been dispatched by tomahawks and left to lay. After they were found a Colonel Proctor ordered his musicians, in passing the spot, to play “Roslin Castle,” whose “soft and moving tones” silenced the regiment and awakened pity for their comrades (Rev. William Roger’s Journal, p. 35).
+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.
-“Rossline Castle, a Dead March” was entered into the c. 1776-78 music copybook [1] of fifer Thomas Nixon (Framingham, Conn.). Nixon was a thirteen-year-old who accompanied his father to the battles of Lexington and Concord, and who served in the Continental army in engagements in and around New York until 1780, after which he returned home to build a house in Framingham.
+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.
-The copybook appears to have started by another musician, Joseph Long, and to have come into Nixon’s possession. The dirge was played as especially appropriate when Washington's Farewell Address was read to the troops encamped at Newburgh, New York, on their disbandment in 1783
+"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."
 }}