"Eminence Breakdown" is an American reel in cut time and D major. The parts are played AA'BB'. It is an American version of the Irish reel The Merry Blacksmith. It was popularized by Orzark fiddler Gene Goforth. The standard notation transcription follows the transcription by John Hartford from Goforth's playing. The tune as he played it is crooked with 10 measures in the A part. Goforth grew up in Eminence, Shannon County, Missouri and this tune is named after that town. John Hartford, in his notes for Goforth’s CD titled Emminence [sic] Breakdown, links the tune to: "The Merry Blacksmith" and the other tunes in the same family: "Corkonian Reel", "The Boys of the Lake", "The Railroad", "The Police Jacket" and "The Shepherd on the Gap". The banjo tablature is by John Letscher from Burt Feintuch and Bruce Greene. It was printed in Beisswenger & McCann's Ozark Fiddle Music (2008). It was recorded by Gene Goforth on Emminence Breakdown (1997) and John Hartford on Hamilton Ironworks (2001).