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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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{SheetMusic
-|f_track=Jean de Paris Overture.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=John of Paris.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Léon_Riesener_-_Portrait_de_François-Adrien_Boieldieu.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=John of Paris
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=John_of_Paris
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
 |f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ92AnH2_pgr0e9HTZQeYGQ Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes=Léon Riesener - Portrait de François-Adrien Boieldieu
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=The girls go by and they wink one eye,{{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.
-It's will you marry me? No, not I;{{break}}
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
-I'm ninety-five, I'm ninety five,{{break}}
-And to stay single I'll contrive.{{break}}
-|f_source=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ns3mDWmFIM Youtube]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[John of Paris | '''John_of_Paris''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-'''Jean de Paris''' is the title of a French comic opera with music by François Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834), 'The French Mozart', first performed in Paris in 1812, and the connection between the march and the opera was recently uncovered in a masterly job of sluthing, recorded the 2/95 Rifles Forum [http://2nd95thrifles.wonko.myfastforum.org/about389.html&view=previous], from which the following information is derived.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-<br>
-<br>
-In 1814 Europe was finally at peace; Napoleon had been exiled to Elba, and the English once again could enjoy French culture.
-The opera "Jean de Paris" was exported to London, where an adaptation, with music composed by Charles Horn and Samuel Arnold, was staged at Drury Lane Theatre.
+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 not a success, despite prodigious talents of the composers. The '''New Monthly Magazine''' (vol. 1, 1814, p. 443), warned its readers:
+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.
-<blockquote>
-''If the success of this piece is adduced as an instance of public taste, we shall be under the'' ''necessity of wishing that our theatres were completely closed, and their companies disbanded to'' ''follow a better occupation.''
-</blockquote>
-However, a rival adaptation of the French opera was being performed at the same time at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden (Nov., 1814), a two-act comic opera "composed and partly selected from the original...by Isaac Pocock, composed and adapted for the English stage by Henry R. Bishop, Composer and Director of music to the Theatre Royal."
-The march was found in Act ii, as a "Pastoral Dance." Pocock's and Bishop's version of "John of Paris" did not fare particularly well, either, with the '''Works of Sir Henry Bishop''' reporting that Boieldieu's "pretty Overture is omitted, which a dozen uninteresting numbers by Bishop are inserted...", the exception being the tune that became known in England as "John of Paris."
+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."
 }}