The Never Ending Pool

Ramblin' Jack lived up to his name, entertaining the crowd with his stories almost as much as his songs Sunday afternoon at the Ottawa Folk Festival at Britannia Park. Photograph by: Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA - Folk music legend and veteran storyteller Ramblin' Jack Elliott proved true to the foot-loose part of his name at the Ottawa Folk Festival Sunday night.

Elliott was scheduled to play the main stage right before the Jim Cuddy Band until the rain forced the closing of the main stage and a lineup shuffle. Cuddy wound up taking the stage after press time, while Elliott was shifted to an earlier slot in the dance tent.

No matter. At 79, Elliott is clearly unfazed by life's vagaries.

Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and playing to an attentive audience, he led off with San Francisco Bay Blues. Elliott then got into full rambling mode by playing a few notes from Reuben James, commenting on it briefly, then somehow segueing into "Diamond Joe" after explaining how he learned the song from a cowboy in Belgium and later taught it to Ian Tyson.

A few minutes later, he was telling us about eating fish and drinking tequila with Cat Stevens, drunkenly falling off a horse, and getting his Martin guitar stolen in Florida. "That has nothing at all to do with this song, does it?" he observed before breaking into the Carter Family's "Engine 143."

Other tunes included a stirring rendition of the Rev. Gary Davis' "Death Don't Have No Mercy," from Elliott's 2009 album A Stranger Here, and his encore tune "The House of the Rising Sun."

We also got stories about his now-departed dog, songs about troubled times, and Elliott's still-strong voice and infectious fondness for life.

The world will be a poorer place when Elliott finally rambles off the stage for good.

http://tinyurl.com/2uhhell