Elk River Blues ~ Old Time West Virginia Fiddle Tune

[rainharper62]

that was great!-learn some more tunes! so we can hear them! ty for posting this

[skelitalmisfit12]

... im speechless, beautiful!!!!

[ottlakerambler]

@skelitalmisfit12 Thanks!

[jdmselkirk]

that was great. please tell where i can find more music like this. or any band that play this kind of mountain music. nice willys by the way

[clinto767]

Elk river...near blue creek u?

[kaknockitoff]

Watching this makes me feel happy. :-)

[electus7]

Beautiful. How long have you been playing?

[ottlakerambler]

@electus7 This was from 2008 -- was playing about 6 years. Now I'm up to 9 years but not much better!

[barefootquilterinthe]

sounds great feller

[stephenpaulwest]

Wow my friend you put life into those tunes. You are easily one of my favorite fiddle players

[ottlakerambler]

@stephenpaulwest Thanks!

[woodallabc]

Sounds Like The Song " Wayfaring Stranger" At Least A Little. Good Job.

[fngrpkn06]

Great tune your playin is wonderful

[KentuckyLadyLiberty]

Love listening to this as I get ready to go to the old homeplace at the headwaters of Elk!

[ottlakerambler]

@KentuckyLadyLiberty Wow, nice!

[KentuckyLadyLiberty]

@ottlakerambler Yes, almost time to dig ramps on the banks of the Ek! lol

[MrDmnhntr777]

wood county west virginia born and raised in west virginia

[emilgrisen]

This is great.

Cool playing.

realy realy cool environment

[ottlakerambler]

@emilgrisen Thanks!

[Mysoulshine1]

Yes, you can hear them at the end very distinct short high pitch chirp. Most folks don't even know that hummingbirds make noise.

[Mysoulshine1]

Beautiful~ and the hummingbirds in the background add a nice touch.

[ottlakerambler]

@Mysoulshine1 Are there really hummingbirds? I didn't notice!

[presidentialfan]

Thanks a lot! This song is real good especially since I'm from Mercer County, West Virginia myself. Did you film this in West Virginia?

[ottlakerambler]

@presidentialfan filmed here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

[cscarnage]

awesome jeep!!

[borealify]

Still one of my favorite of your tunes. Thanks for sharing.

[badkarma1967]

beautiful........I am learning this now

[jayboysc]

that was really good brother i love it!!!

[profwaldo]

Nice job man, This is Great !

Such a sad, sad tale "namtsewhsit" tells

of this tune.

Well done ! Thanks ! :-)  - wally

[diptanshu]

awesome stuff

[ottlakerambler]

@diptanshu Thanks a lot!

[botulizer]

beautiful...i love every note of that!

[ottlakerambler]

@botulizer It's a great song

[shal0mnurh0me]

Is there an actual recording of Ernie Carpenter playing this? I've searched a bit and cannot find anything. I've found a few of his recordings on the digital library of Appalachia, but Elk River Blues was not on there.

Thanks.

[ottlakerambler]

@shal0mnurh0me There used to be a cd, I'm not sure it's still available. Check/call the Augusta Heritage Center store.

[ottlakerambler]

@shal0mnurh0me I found a potential place to purchase the Ernie Carpenter cd: go to fieldrecorder and look at their 2005 list.

[shal0mnurh0me]

@ottlakerambler Thank you! $15 per disk and it includes 30 songs including Elk River Blues, just what I was looking for. Thanks so much again.

[PIUrkPDX]

@shal0mnurh0me I have it on

Old-Time Fiddle Tunes From The Elk River C, Disc 1 Studio Recordingsountry

Two discs of Ernie Carpenter tunes with Elk River Blues on Disc 1

[lucasbarber40]

he must have got that jeep stuck back in the deer woods and thought well i cant fix it might as well bust out some music

[TruegrassBoy]

Great sound and super setting! Keep fiddlin' brother!

[ottlakerambler]

@TruegrassBoy Thanks!

[shal0mnurh0me]

Such a great sound and a great story to go along with this tune. Is this played in Cross tuning GDGD?

[ottlakerambler]

@shal0mnurh0me Yeah, you can play it in standard tuning but this is done GDGD... a bit easier to play and sounds better.

[shal0mnurh0me]

@ottlakerambler Thanks for the quick response, I'll try it out in cross tuning then. I've been trying to play it in standard it just isn't sounding the same.

[TheBONeCoLLeCtoR94]

FUCK YEAH ELKVIEW ALL THE WAY MAN

[ottlakerambler]

Happy New Year to all of you who visit my channel. Without you folks, my efforts here would be a waste of time!

[namtsewhsit]

I learned this tune from Russ Hatton but more than the tune I learned to understand the sorrow of what it was written about. Ernie Carpenter lost his families' homestead to the Sutton Dam on the Elk River in 1950 something and wrote this song while he watched the water rise over his home place. Now listen to it again and feel the pain. Beautifully played.......

[ottlakerambler]

@namtsewhsit Thanks!

[borealify]

I learned this tune this summer from Joe Hermann. You do a wonderful job with it!

[kitsilanogal]

Wow! You play beautifully, and I love this tune!

[Kamiioa]

Very nice, wonderful. Michigan!! Woot!!

[stevesprinceofsteaks]

Great job. Real nice sounding axe you have there.

[jacquiemc]

love it. mage me lonesome for the way i was raised listening to the fiddle along Lake Manitoba shores. thanks. man i wish to make a fiddle sound like that...

[BardofCornwall]

Nice work, and the setting is pretty neat.

[firechan]

-smiles- i grew up next to the elk river, this reminds me of home

[elkriverharmonicas]

As an Elk River (WV) native, makes me homesick. Great fiddlin'!

[dillytaunt0]

Soundin' good!

[smh65536]

One of the nicest versions of this tune that I've heard. Lots of feeling and soul. Thanks much. Steve in Ann Arbor ...

[jwllong]

Great tune. Glad to see others playing in the old GDGD tuning. I love that cross tuning. Afraid to try the ADAD. Too much tension on my old fiddle so I usually go with GDGD when I cross tune. Easier to sing-a-long with too.

[ottlakerambler]

Thanks to all of you below for you nice comments!

[eastkybanjo91]

that was great. too bad west va turned yankee

[KennWV]

The southeastern part didnt, we were kinda forced into a new state

[Whitelightng]

nice job!

[housemountain]

good old west virginia fiddlin...reminds me of home!

[Fabien69100]

Sound like Dirty Old Town from the Pogues !!

[LovingMyMonster]

Agreed.

[rmstudio]

You couldnt pick a better spot to strike up that bow at.. Great tune and loved it..

[mugreentj]

Hell yes!!! I love the jeep too. I had an old cj3a once but sold it off. Great to here some fellow WV'ians music.

[MacPharlan]

thats just the way that should be played

[lablover959]

This is so nice!

[Raddog127]

dirty old town's got the same tune

[Cliffbrock]

I've watched this several time. I love this tune and you play it really well. --:)Rod

[smh65536]

Hi ... I gotta learn this one. Though the other version (by the young lady on YouTube) is good, I like your version better ... more soul, more feeling, nice timing and soulful double stops. I'll save this to learn from. Thanks for sharing !

[ottlakerambler]

Thank you! With 90+ inches of snow in our area right now, this one seems like I filmed it a long time ago.

[wlkerns]

I love that tune and the way you played it. I now remember you more vividly from Augusta 2007 Oldtime Week. I'm going to a log cabin jam in WV in a couple of weeks. If I don't forget to record, I hope to get some good oldtime tunes for UTube. Keep on fiddling.

[mountnmonkey]

I also never heard it before, but Isure like it..thanks

[wvfiddler716]

Is this copyrighted or just traditional? I'd love to learn this one to record.

Does anyone own any intellectual property on this song or anything?

I've never heard it before but I love it!

[ottlakerambler]

It's definitely not tradition. I know that much. It was written by Ernie Carpenter, a deceased WV fiddler who lived along the Elk River. I'd imagine he or somebody close to him owns the copyright.

[GundamGX3]

I love it

[NotSoBigScioty]

I really like this in G-tuning, you play it with your soul.

My recording of Ernie is in standard tuning.

How do you play Elzick's Farewell?

[ottlakerambler]

Hey, thanks. I first learned this from a Dave Bing workshop, where we played it in standard tuning. But, on his CD with David O'Dell, I realized he plays it GDGD... and it sounds a bit sadder (to me) and also it is easier to play.

I haven't learned Elzick's Farewell yet, but I've seen folks play it in standard tuning and, to keep in the A modal, they use their index figure to drone the A and E notes (on the G and D strings).  Sounds cool that way, although it might not be easy.

[gnelson000]

elzick's in the second position out of gdgd (aeae) is the way to go. lots of drone and it falls out right under your fingers.

low and slow and high lonesome to make you cry...

[BluegrassForte]

Very Nice!  5*

Gretsch'n

[dkblubau]

Excellent job Dave. I hope that Willy's comes with that good sound in a week or so...

[ottlakerambler]

Not taking the Willys, and not sure about that fiddle.

[useryug]

Another good'un, rambler. I likes what I sees and hears!

B

[mswora]

I love this song, and I love how you play it. I'd like to learn it for clawhammer banjo.

[ottlakerambler]

Thanks. This banjo player on YouTube -- sorrythatusertaken -- plays it, and also Cherry River Line, which is another fiddle tune I've uploaded. Check him out.

[ottlakerambler]

This guy -- oldtimemark -- plays a fine version on the banjo, too.

[ottlakerambler]

I've played that tune, trance-like, for probably 15 minutes one time. But here I was fighting humidity and mosquitoes, so I needed a few good measures and said "Enough!"

Thanks for the comment.

[wlkerns]

Great job on the fiddle! I love the feeling the tune creates.

[ottlakerambler]

I appreciate your comment. (And please keep those Augusta videos coming. I recall playing with you and several others in a large group of jammers on the Halliehurst porch last summer (2007). I'd like to return some day!)

[gingermc2]

This video is great. I don't know this song, but the feeling of sadness & loss surely comes across in the fiddling. Great job - so beautiful & haunting.

[ottlakerambler]

Thank you! The credit goes to the gentleman who wrote it: Ernie Carpenter.

[melorboo]

Very nice! Ernie, even though he was quite modest, would have enjoyed knowing that his music was being played for the world to see. There are some great stories in our family behind his music.

Kudos to you for spreading the joy and keeping this "ol' timey" style alive!

[ottlakerambler]

This is a beautiful song, and I can't do it justice. The story behind this tune alone saddens me.

Let me add that I am humbled by your kind words. My best to you and yours!

[NOSMOJEFF]

this is a 5 star video hands down. Thank you!

[Cliffbrock]

Let the fiddle play. Music doesn't get any better than this. Very well done and a 5 stars ***** favorite. I'm playing it over and over. Thanks to Suze for sending this to me.  --:)Rod

[ottlakerambler]

Wow, thanks Rod.

[suuzzee5]

Maybe the critics should rest their mouths... :)

This song and the images are a wonderful snapshot from inside the life of the mountains. I'm not familiar with this song but as always, your bowing brings it right to life.

[ottlakerambler]

Thanks, and thanks for sharing!

[About2Rain]

This is heaven to my ears! I love going up in the mountains to play my music. Wish I was right there pickin' some good ole' music with ya. Stars and Hearts to you.

[reliablebow]

Very soothing tune

[ottlakerambler]

If you like this particular tune:

Do a search for Elk River Blues here on YouTube. More and more vids are popping up... it is a great tune... and you find several different interpretations of the song, and certainly better fiddlers than I. Well worth an ethnomusicological comparison.

[MossyCove]

Oh man, oh man,..that is so terrfic, I love it!

[fendermac]

We all stand firm against the critics.They're wrong-you're great.*****

[ottlakerambler]

Yea, those "critics" -- they can't play, so they go around criticizing others. Me, I can't play, but unlike the critics I try to keep my mouth closed. ; - }

[kickingmule]

If the critics says : Let the fiddle rest too,

I say, let the fiddle play, as long as you can. I'm used to fiddle players, but I don't know any so good as you are. My taste says, 5*.

Peace.

[ottlakerambler]

Come to think of it, that's right. What do the critics know anyway? ;~)

[1shlep]

Careful, Kenny just washed that.

[ottlakerambler]

Hahaaha! I'm not in trouble now, am I?