“Elk River Blues” was composed by the West Virginia old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter. Carpenter grew up along the Elk River in Braxton County and watched the building of a dam flood the country of his old home; the tune, he said, came out of sitting with the blues and thinking of that lost place.
Slower than a breakdown, played at a brisk walking pace, “Elk River Blues” is a mournful air rather than a dance tune. It carries a real grief in its melody, the sound of a man putting loss into music.
The tune has been embraced by old-time players for its depth of feeling.
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