Ramblin Jack Elliott w/ special guest Nell Robinson
One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums under his belt, Ramblin' Jack Elliott is one of the country's legendary foundations of folk music.
z'Nobody I know—and I mean nobody—has covered more ground and made more
friends and sung more songs than the fellow you're about to meet right now.
He's got a song and a friend for every mile behind him. Say hello to my good
buddy, Ramblin' Jack Elliott."
Johnny Cash, The Johnny Cash Television
Show, 1969.
Long
before every kid in America wanted to play guitar — before Elvis, Dylan, the
Beatles or Led Zeppelin — Ramblin' Jack had picked it up and was passing it
along. From Johnny Cash to Tom Waits, Beck to Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder to Bruce
Springsteen, the Grateful Dead to The Rolling Stones, they all pay homage to
Ramblin' Jack Elliott.
In the tradition of roving troubadours Jack has
carried the seeds and pollens of story and song for decades from one place to
another, from one generation to the next. They are timeless songs that outlast
whatever current musical fashion strikes today's fancy.
His tone of voice is sharp, focused and piercing. All that and he
plays the guitar effortlessly in a fluid flat-picking perfected style. He was a
brilliant entertainer.... Most folk musicians waited for you to come to them.
Jack went out and grabbed you..... Jack was King of the Folksingers.
Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One
There are no degrees of separation
between Jack and the real thing. He is the guy who ran away from his Brooklyn
home at fourteen to join the rodeo and learned his guitar from a cowboy. In
1950, he met Woody Guthrie, moved in with the Guthrie family and traveled with
Woody to California and Florida, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream
waters. Jack became so enthralled with the life and composer of This Land Is
Your Land, The Dust Bowl Ballads, and a wealth of children's songs
that he completely absorbed the inflections and mannerisms, leading Guthrie to
remark, "Jack sounds more like me than I do."
