Friends of Mine (CD - 1998)

Personnel: Ramblin' Jack Elliott (vocals, 6 & 12 string guitars); Peter Rowan (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Jerry Jeff Walker (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Arlo Guthrie, Tom Waits, John Prine, Guy Clark, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Rosalie Sorrels, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith (vocals); Roy Rogers (slide guitar); Tom Rigney (violin); Norton Bufalo (harmonica); Billy Wilson (accordion); Ruth Davies (bass); Jimmy Sanchez (drums).

Engineers: Mooka Rennick, Sam Lehmer, Joe Marquez, Scott Strain.

Recorded at Prairie Sun Recording, Colati, California, Russian Hill Recording, San Francisco, California and Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee between February 26, 1996 and October 14, 1997. Includes liner notes by Susanna Clark.

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

FRIENDS OF MINE was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.

Personnel: Ramblin' Jack Elliott (vocals); Peter Rowan (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Jerry Jeff Walker (vocals, guitar, harmonica); John Prine, Nanci Griffith, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Waits (vocals, guitar); Emmylou Harris, Rosalie Sorrels (vocals); Tom Rigney (violin); Norton Buffalo (harmonica); Billy Wilson (accordion).

Recording information: Prairie Sun Recording, Cotati, CA (02/02/1996-10/17/1997); Russian Hill Recording, San Francisco, CA (02/02/1996-10/17/1997); Woodland Studios, Nashville, TN (02/02/1996-10/17/1997).

Photographers: Chris Felver; Gaynell Toler Rogers.

This gorgeous album of duets pairs the old wandering cowboy with a bunch of singers whose voices are as gritty and frayed as his, and adds a couple of famous female voices for sweet relief. But what a collection of vocal grit--Tom Waits, John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker and Guy Clark, for starters. It's pretty much a living hall of fame of folk and country singers, and for this labor of love they each picked a favorite tune to sing with Elliott, who's been an inspiration to all of them (Waits, for his part, wrote a new song for the project, though you'd be forgiven if you thought his "Louise" was a long lost folk classic). The pickings include two Bob Dylan songs--Elliott and Prine's version of the Dylan prison ballad "Walls Of Red Wing" is priceless--and old favorites by Townes Van Zandt, Woody Guthrie and the Grateful Dead (whose Bob Weir joins Elliott on "Friend Of The Devil"). Elliott ends the album with a rare original tune, "Bleeker Street Blues," an ode to Dylan. minimize