I (Wade speaking here) got to see Ramblin' Jack Elliot perform in Sacramento California in the early 90s. It was an interesting show. The venue was extremely small. It was basically a coffee shop. They set up about 30-40 chairs in the place and so we were all pretty close to Jack as he performed. He did two sets. The first set was excellent and included Jack's version of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" complete with a story about Dylan. The set was about an hour and between sets he was kind enough to sign things and talk to folk. I approached him holding his CD that I had just bought from his merchandise table "Hard Travelin'" along with a copy of Sam Shepard's book "The Rolling Thunder Logbook" which had a full page picture of Jack in it. I asked if he would be willing to sign his picture in the book and he looked at it and smiled and said "Yeah... Those were some good times." He then looked at the CD in my hand and said "are you wanting to buy that CD?" and I said "oh, actually I have already bought it." "Okay," he said. I told him I enjoyed his first set and was buying a ticket for the second one and he said "good, I'm having a good time." As the next set began, I noticed that Jack had something he was drinking next to him and it seemed not to be water or coffee. He wasn't far into the second set before it was clear that Jack was getting a bit... shall we say "happy." About halfway through he started into a story that rambled on and around and the pair of women sitting by me who had come in for the second set started looking uncomfortable and shifting in their seats. The woman at Mr. Elliot's merchandise table said "sing another song Jack!" Mr. Elliot looked a bit startled and then started up performing a song again. I found myself wishing that the women beside me could have seen him during the first set! Mr. Elliot was certainly feeling no pain, but he was still very charming and I was glad I stayed for both sets.
That Jack Elliot CD was called "Hard Travelin'." It features many Woody Guthrie songs and several other standard Elliot songs and traditional songs. It is a fine album, well worth getting. Also of note, Elliot's daughter Aiyana Elliott directed a documentary "The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack" about her father. It is fascinating in terms of the music, but it is about so much more than that. She was really searching to get to know her father through the making of the film - he was quite busy rambling when she was young. The search adds a touching dimension to the film making it one of the very best music documentarys we've ever seen. Buy it or rent it out if you get the chance.
Click on Jack's name above to go to his official website.
This page is part of
Click below for other
