Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is one of folk music's most enduring characters. Since he first came on the scene in the late '50s, Elliott influenced everyone from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. The son of a New York doctor and a onetime traveling companion of Woody Guthrie, Elliott used his self-made cowboy image to bring his love of folk music to one generation after another. Despite the countless miles that Elliott traveled, his nickname is derived from his unique verbiage: an innocent question often led to a mosaic of stories before he got to the answer. According to folk songstress Odetta, it was her mother who gave Elliott the name when she remarked, "Oh, that Jack Elliott, he sure can ramble."
Pressured by his parents to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, Elliott resisted their urging. Instead, inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden, he became fascinated with the image of the American cowboy. After reading the books of cowboy novelist Will James, he ran away from home at the age of 15 and joined the J.E. Ranch Rodeo. Although he was only with the rodeo for three months (before his parents tracked him down and he was sent home), Elliott was exposed to his first singing cowboy, a rodeo clown who played guitar and banjo and sang songs. Returning home, Elliott taught himself to play guitar.
Elliott's recording debut came in the mid-'50s when he recorded three songs for a multi-artist compilation, Bad Men, Heroes and Pirates, released by Elektra. Elliott was so influenced by Guthrie (whom he had met during a Greenwich Village picking session in 1950) that he began his musical career by mimicking the legendary folksinger. When Guthrie traveled to Florida in 1952, he sent for Elliott to join him. By the time Elliott arrived, however, Guthrie had already left for Mexico, where he was turned back at the border and forced to return to New York. Elliott reunited with Guthrie a few months later. In the winter of 1954, they traveled together back to Florida; in the spring of 1954, they continued on to California's Topanga Canyon. The trip marked the last time that Elliott saw a healthy Guthrie. When he went to Europe in 1955, Elliott sang Guthrie's songs and told stories about him. England provided the setting for Elliott's early success; his first album on his own, Woody Guthrie's Blues, was recorded in England for the Topic label. In addition to recording four more albums for Topic, he attracted attention with his performances with Derroll Adams, a banjo player he had met in California. The duo barnstormed throughout Europe and had a profound influence on the British music scene.
After living in Europe for six years, Elliott returned to the United States in 1961. The day after he returned, he visited Guthrie in the hospital and was introduced to Bob Dylan. (In the mid-'70s, Elliott joined Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and was featured in Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara.) Before long, he renewed his friendship with Guthrie, and ended up staying with him, his wife Marjorie Guthrie, and their children for a year. Elliott was an influence on folksinger Pete Seeger. During an early-'60s tour of England and Scotland with Seeger and the Weavers, he inspired Seeger with his tales of sailing ships. Among the many other musicians Elliott befriended was Jerry Garcia. Elliott often performed opening sets for Garcia's bands and occasionally sat in with the Grateful Dead.
In 1990, Red House released Legends of Folk, a live recording of a concert that Elliott had performed with Bruce "U. Utah" Phillips and Spider John Koerner at the World Theater in Minnesota. Bob Feldman, owner of Red House, later persuaded Elliott to record his first studio album in more than two decades, South Coast. Recorded at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN, the album's 25 tracks were recorded during three four-hour recording sessions. The album received a Grammy Award as Best Traditional Folk Album of 1995. Elliott returned to the recording studio to record Friends of Mine. Released in 1997, the album featured duets with Joe Ely, Tom Waits, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nanci Griffith, John Prine, and Bob Weir. The Long Ride followed in 1999. A documentary about Elliott, The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack, and its soundtrack appeared in 2002, while Anti released the album I Stand Alone in 2006. A second album from Anti, the Joe Henry-produced A Stranger Here, followed in 2009.
© Craig Harris /TiVo
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Jack Takes the Floor
World - Released by Crazy Warthog Media on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Woody Guthrie's Songs to Grow On (Hq remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 30 Aug 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jack Elliott (Hq Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 14 Oct 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Woody Guthrie's Blues (Hq remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 30 Aug 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Lost Topic Tapes, Isle of Wight 1957 (Hq remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 31 Aug 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Folk Collection
Pop - Released by Marmot Music on 21 Jun 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Flapping Wings
Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Pop - Released by Wings in Hell on 18 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Roll On Buddy (HD Remastered)
Country - Released by Reborn recordings on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Early Sessions (HD Remastered)
Country - Released by Reborn recordings on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jack Elliott at the Second Fret, Recorded Live (HD Remastered)
Country - Released by Reborn recordings on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mule Skinner Blues / San Francisco Bay Blues (All Tracks Remastered)
Pop - Released by Hit Singles Records on 19 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Country Style [1962] (HD Remastered)
Country - Released by Reborn recordings on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jack Takes the Floor
Country - Released by Milestones Records on 24 Jun 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sings the Songs of Woody Guthrie (HD Remastered)
Country - Released by Reborn recordings on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Woody Guthrie's Songs to Grow On (HD Remastered)
Country - Released by Reborn recordings on 18 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Records Collection
Musical Theatre - Released by Itube on 15 Sep 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Happy Sounds
Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Pop - Released by Belle Wood on 9 Aug 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Country Style (Hq remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 29 Jun 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Early Sessions (Hq remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 20 Sep 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sings Woody Guthrie And Jimmie Rodgers (Hq remastered)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Recordings on 31 Aug 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo