The Essential Ramblin' Jack Elliott (CD - 1970)

Tracks 13-23 were recorded live at Town Hall, New York, New York on April 30, 1965.

Ramblin' Jack is a key figure in the development of American folk music, a link between Woody Guthrie and Guthrie disciple Bob Dylan. Like Dylan, Ramblin' Jack was a young Jewish folksinger in love with the idea of the dust bowl balladeer, changing his name (from Adnopoz to Elliott) and adopting a Guthrie-esque persona. He went a step further than the younger Dylan by traveling around with Guthrie. Unlike Dylan, Elliott always stuck close to the traditional folk style, as heard on this definitive, lengthy (originally a double album) collection.

With a weathered, earthy voice and considerable fingerpicking skills, he tackles a program of traditional folk and blues, providing a template that would be expanded by Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and others. The second half of the disc, taken from a 1965 concert before an appreciative folk revival-happy audience, comes full circle by including a version of Dylan's "Dont Think Twice, It's All Right," which sounds perfectly at home amid the traditional material. minimize