Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 16 Years, 1 Month ago
Great recounting of the show. Thanks, TimeFades!
I saw him in Seattle in the 1980's at an old small funky venue called the Rainbow Tavern in the U District. I was just out driving around with a buddy with nothing to do and we saw the sign out front and decided to drop in for the show. It was the same sort of experience that you recount. The atmosphere was like sitting in a living room. He said that the main reason he was in the Seattle area was to visit the plant where they made Kenworth trucks. If I remember correctly he had either a broken leg or arm in a cast.
At one point he broke a string on his guitar and while he took his time restringing it (I think he got the string from an audience member) he just told stories. Mainly about traveling with Woody and some other funny stories and a couple jokes. It was a wonderful, unexpected experience and the first time I'd ever seen a live show that was so personal and clearly heartfelt.
I can't believe people complained about him sitting there telling stories. Well, sadly, I guess I can. That must have been quite a thrill to have him point you out and then sing Pastures of Plenty.
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 16 Years, 1 Month ago
Some Spring and Summer Ramblin' Jack dates:
Sat 5/17/2008 8pm Groveland CA Historic Iron Door Saloon
Sat 5/24/2008 Fri: One Song @ Singer/Songwriter Hibbing MN Hibbing High School Auditorium
Fri 6/6/2008 8:00 PM Chester NY Bodles Opera House
Sun 6/8/2008 7:30pm Brattleboro VT The Church
Wed 6/11/2008 7:00 PM Annapolis MD Rams Head Tavern
Fri 6/13/2008 004> New York NY Town Hall Theatre
Fri 6/13/2008 8pm New York NY Town Hall Theatre
Sun 6/15/2008 8pm Albany NY The Linda
Fri 6/20/2008 8:00 PM Charlottesville VA The Paramount Theater
Sun 7/6/2008 TBD New Bedford MA Whaling National Historical Park
Sun 8/10/2008 TBD Regina, SK, Canada, Regina Folk Festival
Sat 8/30/2008 7:00 PM Approximately Nelson OH Nelson Ledges Quarry Park
Here's Jack Elliott (before he was known as Ramblin' Jack Elliott) giving a spoken imitation of Lead Belly, and then singing the song, "Blind Lemon Jefferson." This performance took place 43 years ago (AP 30th), at Town Hall, where Elliott will be this June. If you want to get a sense of how good Elliott was as an entertainer, then give this one a listen. (Btw, Vanguard is the label to check out if you want more of this vintage of JE).
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 16 Years, 1 Month ago
May 14, 2008
At the request of artist management, the Paramount Theater performance featuring Guy Clark, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Jesse Winchester, scheduled for Friday, June 20, has been postponed.
Musician Guy Clark is taking time off from his touring schedule to recuperate after suffering a broken leg. The performance will now be rescheduled.
The Paramount has contacted all ticket holders for the performance, who will be able to use their June 20 tickets for the new show date to be announced.
Also, [slide-guitarist and producer, Roy] Rogers mentioned he's been holing up at Prairie Sun recording studios with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, working on a spoken-word record of the itinerant folkie's life. Look for that to come out later this year or early next year.
The "late night banter and song fragments" were not on Young Brigham, the Warner Bros. album under discussion. The banter and fragments were on the follow-up Warner album, Bull Durham Sacks & Railroad Tracks. According to Stefan Wirz, both albums are from 1967. Possibly, they were recorded at the same sessions, but that's conjecture on my part.
"After a 20 year hiatus from the recording industry, Ramblin' Jack Elliott returned, in 1995, with South Coast.
At the risk of sounding picky (who, me?), the above just isn't so. After the two Warner albums, in 1967, Jack stepped back into a studio and recorded what he described as his best album up to that point. The vinyl album was Kerouac's Last Dream, recorded in 1980, in Germany. This album had nine or ten songs, including his 2nd recorded version of "912 Greens." Elliott was in his 49th year.
Then, in 1990, Jack, along with the late, U. Utah Phillips and "Spider" John Koerner, recorded a live album, (Legends of Folk), on the Red House Records label, in which Jack sang five songs, including a third version of "912 Greens." He was in good form. Incidentally, of the officially recorded versions of the song, nothing tops the original, from 1967, imo.
Then came South Coast in 1995, and to my mind, while the album is a good one, it's not as good as Kerouac's Last Dream, an album that very few had heard on this side of the Atlantic. In 1997, Appleseed Recordings got American distribution rights to the album, tossed in about 10 outtakes, slapped together an unbecoming drawing of Elliott, and there you have it. The nine or 10 song original album is a better overall listen.
As for South Coast winning a Grammy (Dave Van Ronk was also a nominee, that year), to my mind, it was more along the lines of Elliott deserving something. In a sense, I believe that the award was akin to a lifetime achievement award, not that South Coast was a bad album.
The "late night banter and song fragments" were not on Young Brigham, the Warner Bros. album under discussion. The banter and fragments were on the follow-up Warner album, Bull Durham Sacks & Railroad Tracks. According to Stefan Wirz, both albums are from 1967. Possibly, they were recorded at the same sessions, but that's conjecture on my part.
I'm very surprised Stefan Wirz says that on his site. Bull Durham Tracks was was recorded way later, in a different city, different studio, with different players. Young Brigham was recorded in Los Angeles, Bull Durham Sacks, in Nashville. But it was either recorded in late 69 or even the year of its release, 1970. The key to this of course is "Lay Lady Lady" which of course was written and recorded in 1969. The second key is the opening track, "Me and Bobby McGhee." The first recording of that song was a single by Roger Miller which was also in 1969.
Before I posted the above, Peter, I checked album labels and jackets for dates. Only the date of the liner notes by Johnny Cash, on "Brigham," were cited, that being DE 13, 1967. My gut instinct was that "Bull Durham" didn't appear until sometime later, and Stefan Wirz' claim puzzled me.
I'd forgotten about LLL, but had I taken a moment to scan the song titles, then the proverbial coin would have dropped, and I may have then pointed out Wirz' (obvious) error. I may also have spotted the details about the different recording locales, indicated on the jackets.
Thanks for setting the matter straight.
Coming up:
Wed 6/11/2008 7:00 PM Annapolis MD Rams Head Tavern
Red Rocks is your latest visit to Colorado. What was your earliest?
“In the summer of ‘73, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and myself played a tour of nothing but Colorado ski towns in the summertime. There are crowds year round for different events now, but back then a lot of those little ski towns weren’t known as destinations, so we were playing mostly to locals in movie theatres. And it was absolutely crazy. If I live to be 200, I’ll remember that tour. We got in an RV with Ramblin’ Jack’s big sheepdog Caesar, and we had about eight people with us that I think fell off of Ken Kesey’s bus. We just rambled around Colorado. It was great!”
Re:RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT THREAD 15 Years, 11 Months ago
This weekend, in Hew Hampshire and Massachusetts:
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
Sat 07/05/08 Newmarket, NH Stone Church
Sun 07/06/08 New Bedford, MA Whaling Museum
Here's a song by Derroll Adams from a long ago out-of-print album of his. He has an anonymous "Jack" in the studio on this occasion, flatpicking. Adams plays his banjo and sings.
"Portland Town," by Derroll Adams (composer of the song), from 1967. Adams was 42: