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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

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 {{SheetMusic
-|f_track=Morpeth Rant.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Morpeth Rant.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Shield.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=Morpeth Rant
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Morpeth_Rant_(1)
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
-|f_section=X5
+|f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/edric-ellis Edric Ellis]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes= William Shield (1748–1829).
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=The Morpeth Rant was the name of a dance that has been performed for over almost two centuries, and numerous tunes and tune variants were played in accompaniment to it over many years; thus there are a number of tunes called "Morpeth Rant" or "Old Morpeth Rant" that have varying degrees of similarity.
+|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/edric-ellis/morpeth-rant Soundcloud]
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Morpeth_Rant_(1) | '''Morpeth Rant''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-The composition is often attributed to William Shield (1748–1829), a popular 18th century musician and composer originally from Swalwell, near Gateshead, Northumberland. However, as Barry Callaghan (2007) and others have pointed out, Shield often appropriated traditional or folk melodies, and "Morpeth Rant" may not be original to him.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-The town of Morpeth [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpeth,_Northumberland] is in Northumberland, a market center on the River Wansbeck serving the surrounding rural areas and the villages of the Northumbrian coalfield (Graham Dixon). It evolved around a Norman fortress called Morpeth Castle, one of several guarding the east coast routes to 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 one of the "missing tunes" from William Vickers' 1770 Northumbrian manuscript.
+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.
-The older form of the tune can be found in the music manuscript collections of C.J. Surtees (Tyneside, 1819), Joshua Jackson (north Yorkshire, 1798), Rev. Robert Harrison (Brampton, Cumbria, c. 1815, as "Princess of Wales' Hornpipe"), John Moore (Shropshire, 1830, as "New Sailor's Hornpipe") and in a manuscript by an unknown hand in the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library (as "[[West's Hornpipe]]" with an added eight bars).
+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.
-The tune and several variation sets was published by the Edinburgh music publishing firm of Nathaniel Gow and William Shepherd in a volume entitled '''A Collection of Entirely Original Strathspey Reels, Marches, Quick Steps &c.''', "by Ladies resident in a remote part of the Highlands of Scotland, as corrected by Nath. Gow."
+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.
-Unfortunately, the composers names are not given.  The Leeds antiquarian Frank Kidson (1854–1926) penciled a note in his copy of the volume that the composers were, or included, “the Misses Whyte,” and modern researcher Charles Gore thinks “the Misses Whyte” may possibly be a Miss White and a Miss Brocky, of Morayshire, east Highlands.
+"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."
 }}