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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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{SheetMusic
-|f_track=Gilderoy.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Guilderoy.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Jacobite_broadside_-_Gilder_Roy_in_his_genuine_Highland_Garb.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=Guilderoy
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Gilderoy_(2)
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
 |f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/robmackillop Rob MacKillop]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes= Historically, Gilleruadh was the nickname of a famous Scottish highwayman named Patrick McGregor who was captured and executed in 1636.
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/robmackillop/21gilderoy Soundcloud]
+|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/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Gilderoy_(2) | '''Guilderoy''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-The title Gilderoy is an Englished version of the Gaelic ''Gilleruadh'' or ''Giolla Ruadh'', meaning red-haired lad or youth. Historically, Gilleruadh was the nickname of a famous Scottish highwayman named Patrick McGregor who was captured and executed in 1636; the song describes his exploits and moralizes on his fate. John Purser says the tune was known by around 1660 as it was referred to in a broadside of that period.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-Glen records that the tune was first printed in the British Isles in 1726 (where it appears in Alexander Stuart's Musick for Allan Ramsay's '''Collection of Scots Songs''', p. 194, in the key of 'A'), in William Thompson's '''Orpheus Caledonius''' of 1733 and again in 1742, though Cazden (et al, 1982) dates the tune as "possibly from 1650," perhaps to coincide with the demise of the famous highwayman [which is speculation since no sources were cited].
+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 quickly became popular and appears in the later 18th century Scottish collections of Aird, Bremner, Gillespie (1768), Oswald (1744 in '''A Second Collection of Curious Scots Tunes''', later republished with different variations in his '''Caledonian Pocket Companion'''), McGibbon, and McLean (1772) {where it is ascribed to Robert McIntosh}.
+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."
 }}