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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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-__NOABC__
+{{SheetMusic
-__NOTITLE__
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-<div style="text-align: justify; margin-left: 0pX; margin-right: 0px;">
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-{{break}}
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-[[File:hunt3.jpg|200px|link=|left|]]
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-Composed by Sir Alexander Don, 5th Baronet of Newton Don (1751-1815), who, in 1777 along with other local gentry, formed a Society called the Caledonian Hunt, which met twice a year. (See note for "[[Sir Alexander Don (1)]]" for more on him). The Cross Keys Hotel in Kelso (Borders region) was used as a base. A Yorkshire gentleman, Colonel Thornton, visited in 1786 and gave this account:
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
-<blockquote>
+|f_section=abc
-''A charming scene of confusion; cooks, ladies' servants, waitresses ''
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-''all running against each other, being the time of Kelso Races. The''
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-''company is composed of gentlemen of the Turf on both sides of the ''
+|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.
-''Tweed with families and friends and also members of the Caledonian ''
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
-''Hunt. Foxhounds and harriers hunt alternately in the mornings. There''
+|f_pix=420
-''is also a concert and races and next night the gentlemen of the Hunt''
+|f_picpix=200
-''give a handsome ball. After the ladies retired therefrom, the gentlemen''
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-''formed a party to drink their healths and when I got up at 8 they were''
-''still drinking and meant to sit till hounds went out. This meeting, I heard,''
-''is most expensive of any. An English Steward was obliged to pay 10 ''
-''guineas for his room, though only there 5 nights.''
-</blockquote>
-The annual event of the Caledonian Hunt was the famous Caledonian Hunt Ball, an event so fashionable as to be attended by the majority of gentry of Scotland, and not a few from England.  Nathaniel Gow's band performed music for the occasion for many years, until music and dance fashions changed fashion. In 1822 King George IV attended the ball and took pleasure in expressing the satisfaction he derived from Gow's music.  When Gow presented his bill to the sponsors of the event, he added, "...my own trouble at pleasure, or nothing, as his majesty's approbation more than recompensed me." At the end of his life, when Gow became infirm and financially destitute from the failure of his publishing business, the noblemen and gentlemen of the Hunt voted Gow 50 pounds per annum for the remainder of his years in remembrance of his services to them.
-{{break|2}}
-O'Neill (1922) remarks: "This favorite first appeared in Ross' '''Choice Collection of Scots Reels Country Dances and Strathspeys''', Edinburgh, 1780." Donn's compsition appears in the c. 1785 music mansucript collection of John Sutherland, a pastoral piper from Aberdeenshire. The pastoral pipes were a precursor to the smallpipes. The melody is attibuted in the ms. to either "Our Alex Donn" or "Sir Alex Donn". The first strain is shared with the air and country dance tune "[[O This is no My Ain Lassie]]."
-{{break}}
-</div>
-----
-[[Annotation:Caledonian_Hunt_(1)_(The)|THE CALEDONIAN HUNT full Score(s) and Annotations]] and [[Featured_Tunes_History|Past Featured Tunes]]
-<div class="noprint">
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-<!-- {{#widget:SoundCloud |id=211669164}} -->
-<!-- {{#ev:youtube|hIH1FKXdrU8|dimensions=200x100}} -->
-</div>
-----
-[[File:The caledonian huntsmans delight.mp3|thumb|left|The Caledonian Hutsman's Delight]] {{break|4}}
+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.
-[[File:The Caledonian Hunt.pdf|page=1|thumb|left|200px|The Caledonian Hunt]]
-{{#lst:Caledonian_Hunt_(1)_(The)|abc}}
+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."
+}}