Ramblin' Jack Elliott - The Essential

 Although I've known about Elliott pretty much as long as I can remember, for some reason I never had any of his recordings until now. I was influenced to pick this one up after Hopeless Jack based one of his covers in his live set on Jack's interpretation and I decided it was about time I got some of the Ramblin' Man's music.

Heavily influenced by Woody Guthrie (Woody's son, Arlo, says he learned his father's style from Elliott since his dad passed away early on) and a huge influence on Bob Dylan, Jack is a well-respected folk singer whose legacy continues to this day.

This no-frills, 23 song compilation gives a good overview of the man's career, although there is no liner notes whatsoever. Opening with the appropriate "Roving Gambler", he shows his traditional acoustic folk influences and his fine, flat-picking style. His take on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" appears to lean heavily on the Carter Family's although his includes banjo and harmonica to nice effect, he's back on his own for a well done "Diamond Joe", then a strange (to my American ears) South African folk tune, "Guabi Guabi", done - apparently - in the native tongue, followed by another banjo-led trad number "Sowing on the Mountain", then a fast-paced "Roll On Buddy", he covers Woody's "1913 Massacre", sounding a lot like the original, although Jack's vocals are probably a bit more tuneful, his folkie take on "House of the Rising Sun" is the old school major key style, "Shade of the Old Apple Tree" is pure hillbilly, he does some nice pickin' in "Black Snake", which is a different name for "Matchbox Blues", while "Portland Town" is a melodic minor-key piece originally by Derroll Adams and "More Pretty Girls" is yet another cool, waltz-tempo trad song with some Dylan-esque harmonica playing.

Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues" is a bouncy acoustic blues done live as is most (all? of the rest of the numbers here), he introduces "Buffalo Skinners" as an old cowboy song, one of those early Americana numbers with plenty of long, drawn-out notes, "Sadie Brown" is a Piedmont-ish jump tune with a bit of yodelin', he honors his "son" by doing a pretty spot-on "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", then does Leadbelly's homage to "Blind Lemon Jefferson" and another appropriate Woody number, "Ramblin' Round Your City" (which, in turn was based on "Goodnight Irene") as well as one of his "talking blues" (Dylan did a number of these, also), "Talkin' Columbia", Jimmy Driftwood's "Tennessee Stud" is a familiar, melodic folkie, he does an acappella "Night Herding Song", while "Love Sick Blues" is technically by Irving Mills and Cliff Friend, Jack is obviously doing Hank Williams' yodelin' version, and this comp and his live set closed out with Will Fyffe's "I Belong to Glasgow", with Jack affecting a goofy Scottish accent for the tune.

A part of me has always been a folkie and I love this old school stuff, so I'm surprised I hadn't picked up anything by Elliott before now, but glad that I did! Fans of Woody and Dylan are sure to dig this, as well.