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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=The Great Eastern Reel.mp3
+|f_track=Elk River Blues.mp3
-|f_pdf=Great Eastern Reel.pdf
+|f_pdf=Elk River Blues.pdf
-|f_artwork=Great_Eastern_1866-crop.jpg
+|f_artwork=Ernie Carpenter.jpg
-|f_tune_name=The Great Eastern Reel
+|f_tune_name=Elk River Blues
-|f_track_title=Great_Eastern_Reel_(1)
+|f_track_title=Elk River Blues
 |f_section=abc
-|f_played_by=[https://www.youtube.com/@PattiKusturokOfficial Patti Kusturok and Julie Fitzgerald]
+|f_played_by=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar Jatek Zenekar]
-|f_notes=Great Eastern at Hearts Content, July 1866.
+|f_notes=Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997)
-|f_caption=While the title may refer to a region of a country, it must be strongly considered that it was associated with The Great Eastern, one of three great transatlantic steamships designed by Isambad Kingdom Brunel
+|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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpfDMTJnvBA Youtube]
+|f_source=[https://soundcloud.com/jatek-zenekar/elk-river-blues Soundcloud]
 |f_pix=420
 |f_picpix=200
-|f_article=[[Great_Eastern_Reel_(1) | '''The Great Eastern Reel''']]
+|f_article=[[Elk River Blues | '''Elk River Blues''']]
-is a reel that, while not a member of a large tune family, is nontheless important in several traditions, largely on the merits of its strong, flowing and well-crafted melody.
+Composed by Braxton County, West Virginia, old-time fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997).
-It has a few names, but essentially they are the same tune, showing little of the variety and musical distance between versions that sometimes develops when tunes weave in and out of various traditions.
+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.
-It can be found in North American tradition as "Bennett's Favorite" and "The Great Eastern," in Irish tradition as "John Brennan's Reel" and especially "The Silver Spire," and in Québecois tradition as one of the "La Grondeuse" tunes.
+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.
-It has a long recording history, beginning with the duet of Paddy Killoran and Paddy Sweeney in the 1930's and continuing today with versions by Sharon Shannon, Tommy Peoples, John and Phil Cunningham, Natalie MacMaster and the groups Wild Asparagus and La Bottine Souriante, to name a few.
+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.
-In Québec the title "[[Grondeuse (1) (La)]]"-'the grumbling woman'-is the title of many tunes, each fiddler seeming to have his or her own versions based on a variety of melodies in the key of 'D'.
+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.
-What they have in common is that the 'G' string is tuned up to 'A' (ADae, or 'raised bass' tuning), producing ringing overtones and lending itself to dense droned bowing on the low parts.
+"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."
-"La Grondeuse" is universally played in the Québec fiddle tradition and it is often employed as a vehicle for step-dancing. One "La Grondeuse" strain is the "Great Eastern"/"Silver Spire" melody and has made the contra dance rounds for many years, beginning with New Hampshire fiddler and caller Dudley Laufman.
 }}