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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=Jenny Lind(1).mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Jenny Lind's Polka.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Lind.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=Jenny Lind
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Jenny_Lind_(1)
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
 |f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/hjst Hjst]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes= Jenny Lind (1820–1887)
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=Jenny Lind toured Europe during 1844–48 to much popular acclaim, and took London, then Dublin by storm in 1847 and 1848. P.T. Barnum promoted an American tour of the by then world-famous singer in 1851–52, and she played a 150 concerts at $1,000 a performance.
+|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/hjst/jenny-lind Soundcloud]
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Jenny_Lind_(1) | '''Jenny Lind''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-The tune is almost universally known among older traditional fiddle and squeezebox players in England and morris dance versions have been collected from the Bampton area of England's Cotswolds (Mallinson), and North-West England (Wade) where it is used as a tune for a polka step. It was a hit of the late 20th century folk revival in England, its popularity spurred by Bill Leader, Reg Hall and Bob Davenport's influential recording "English Country Music" (1965), a limited release which featured Norfolk fiddler Walter Bulwer and his wife Daisy (piano), and Billy Cooper (hammered dulcimer). The recording became a collectors item until it was re-released on LP by Topic Records in 1976.
+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.
-"Jenny Lind's Favorite Polka" was entered into the 1859 music copybook of American musician M.E. Eames (about whom, unfortunately, nothing is known). Tom Carter and Barry Poss say the tune has "only occasionally" been recorded in Virginia and West Virginia, sometimes under the title "[[Heel and Toe Polka]]," however, it appears in the repertory of many North Carolina Piedmont old-time musicians.
+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.
-"Jenny Lind Polka" ([[Sal with the Run Down Shoes]]) was in the repertoire of fiddler S.S. Ransdell (Louisburg, Granville, County, N.C.) who competed in 1905 in the Raleigh, N.C., fiddler's convention, as recorded by the old Raleigh News and Observer. The melody is mentioned in accounts (1926–31) as having been played at the De Kalb County (Alabama) Annual (Fiddlers') Convention (Cauthen, 1990), and also appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
+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.
-John Summers played "Jenny Lind Polka" Jim Herd, living in Seattle but originally from the Ozarks, played an old-time variant he called "[[Dance All Night with a Gal with a Hole in Her Stocking]]" (merged with "[[Buffalo Gals]]"). An early recording on 78 RPM was by Henry Whitter's Breakdowners, from southwestern Virginia. North-central Kentucky fiddler Everett Kays' played a reel called "[[Jenny Lynn (2)]]" that is a very distanced version of "Jenny Lind (1)," noticeable in the second strain.
+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."
 }}