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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=Leo Rowsome - St Patrick's Day.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=St.Patricks Day.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Irish brigade.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=St. Patrick's Day
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=St. Patrick's Day
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
-|f_section=X11
+|f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZIhbzIF7v2lYvU6Xoogn6?si=rKsfUZJNTBm2ULon6nJQOQ Leo Rowsome]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes=The Irish Brigade attached to the French forces which helped turn the tide of battle against the English troops at the battle of Fontenoy.
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=This is the only occasion on which country dances are performed at the Irish court. The ball on Patrick’s night is always opened by the lively dance of “Patrick’s day.” The dowagers of both sexes then come into play; and “the Irish trot” of many a veteran belle, recalls the good old times of the Rutland Court: when French quadrilles were “undreamed of in philosophy” of the dancing of that noted epoch.
+|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://open.spotify.com/track/1sCZEFYWr8558PJQy2Y9PH?si=54e4302356dd4aa3 Spotify]
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[St. Patrick's Day | '''St. Patrick's Day''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-The first mention of the tune is that it was one of two tunes (with "The White Cockade") played by the pipers of the Irish Brigade attached to the French forces which helped turn the tide of battle against the English troops at the battle of Fontenoy on May 11, 1745.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-Flood (1906) and O’Neill (1913) believe was probably the last appearance in battle of the Irish Piob mor (war pipes or great pipes, which survived only in Scotland) of which there is any mention.
+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.
-'''Rutherford's 200 Country Dances, volume 1''', 1756, contains the first country dance printing of the tune, which also appears in English collections as a jig by the name "[[Barbary Bell]]."
+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.
-Typically for popular melodies of the time, it also became the vehicle for many songs, including air 35, "A plague of these wenches," in the opera '''Love in a Village''' by T.A.
+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.
-Arne and I. Bickerstaffe (London, 1762). As song, country dance or quickstep it remained popular for many years. In later military tradition it was played on December 31, 1811 by the 87th Regiment band as a French attack became a rout at Tarifa, and Winstock (1970) remarks it was a favourite quickstep of the Napoleonic era Peninsular War in the British army.
-Queen Victoria requested the melody from piper Thomas Mahon when she and the Prince Consort visited Ireland for the first time in 1849. Mahon was surprised to learn that she and the Prince were familiar “with the best gems in Irish music,” and he also played “The Royal Irish Quadrilles” and “Garryowen” at their behest.
+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 Queen must have been impressed with his playing, for she directed that henceforth Mahon have the title “Professor of the Irish Union Bagpipers to Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria” (O’Neill, 1913). English country dance versions appear several times in James Oswald’s '''Caledonian Pocket Companion''' (London, 1760), and James Aird printed it in Glasgow in his '''Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1''' (1782). In fact, English printings of the tune by far predate Irish ones, and it may be the provenance is English, despite the Irish-sounding title.
+"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."
 }}