Template:Pagina principale/Vetrina: Difference between revisions

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=Rory O' More.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Rory O' More.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=The_Image_of_Irelande_-_plate11.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=Rory O'More
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Rory O'More
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
 |f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/fasterthanlime Amos Wenger]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes= Rory O'More from John Derrick's The Image of Irelande, with a Discoverie of Woodkarne.
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=Despite the non-Irish provenance of the jig, “Rory O’More” was celebrated in the poem “The Ould Irish Jig,” by James McKowen (1814-1889):{{break}}
+|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.
-''An ould Irish jig, too, was danced by''{{break}}
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
-''The kings and the great men of yore,''{{break}}
-''King O’Toole could himself neatly foot it''{{break}}
-''To a tune they called “Rory O’More”''.
-|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/fasterthanlime/rory-omore-saddle-the-pony-bioshock-infinite-cover Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Rory O'More | '''Rory O'More''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-was a very popular tune from the late 1830's to the end of the 19th century, frequently published and a common entry in period musicians' manuscript collections.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-Colonel Roger “Rory” O’More (c. 1620-1655) was a minor Irish noble and the titular King of Laois, who rose to fame as the scourge of the English during the reign of Charles I.
+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.
-The jig was composed by Irish songwriter, novelist, composer and painter Samuel Lover [1] (1797-1868) and became the "hit tune" of 1837. Although initially a dance tune (a popular Scottish country dance is called "Rory O'More"), it was absorbed as a common march in the Victorian era British army and can be found in martial manuscript books dating from the 1850's (Winscott).
+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.
-“Rory O’More” also appears in English fiddler’s manuscripts from the same era (see Ellis Knowles and Joshua Gibbons, referenced below).
+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 melody was picked up by morris dancers from the village of Adderbury, Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds and used as a rural dance vehicle sometimes called by morris musicians as “Haste to the Wedding” and played in the key of ‘F’.
+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."
 }}