Field Recorders' Collective

(Large view)

(From the collection of the Brandwine Friends of Old Time Music)
West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997) was born in Braxton County, near the Elk River and was descended from four generations of fiddle players and river men. His great grandfather Solomon Carpenter was, according to family tradition, born under the shelving rock of the fiddle tune name while the family was hiding from raiding Indians. Ernie.s repertoire is drawn from his family, especially his father, Shelt Carpenter, and talented neighbors like Uncle Jack McElwain, Wallace Pritchard and George Hammons. These recordings come from the Brandywine Mountain Music Convention of 1987, when Ernie was brought and backed up by Gerry Milnes and Michael Kline on banjo and guitar. -- The Brandywine Friends and Gerry Milnes

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