Elusive, in thathis works have always been tucked under either traditionalists such as WoodyGuthrie (who he befriended and imitated) or revolutionaries such as Bob Dylan(who he also befriended; but it was Dylan who imitated Ramblin’ Jack); andunreliable in that he, for example, failed to make it in time to accept the1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Award in New York City on behalf of the newinductee, Woody Guthrie, at the second year of the awards. Elliott wasinitially unreachable, rambling around somewhere in Texas for no apparent reason. By the time hewas tracked down by his frustrated agent, his first response was, “You…go tohell, buddy. I don’t like New York.”
When he wasfinally convinced, Elliott arrived wearing dirty clothes amid the tuxedo crowdat the Waldorf Astoria and wandered onstage only for the all-star jam, playingno instrument but rather singing along, bemused, while Neil Young as Bob Dylan,in full face makeup and cape, sang “All Along the Watchtower.”
Elliott’s life, soexpertly researched and elegantly described in Hank Reineke’s authoritative Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: The Never-EndingHighway (Scarecrow Press), reads like thatalways rumpled, never on timeand just casually mixing with those he influenced on the sidelines or at adistance.
Ramblin’ Jack wasnever a careerist. Reineke lovingly describes him as being such an authentictroubadour and hobo that his opportunities for fame either came too late or,when they did arrive, were bypassed for the chance to rodeo or just bum around.
Elliott CharlesAdnopoz, the Jewish, middle-class son of a very respectable Dr. and Mrs.Abraham Adnopoz of Brooklyn, N.Y.,saw the World Championship Rodeo at Madison Square Gardenin 1940 when he was 9 years old and instantly became a cowboy. Witnessing GeneAutry there, he, at first, thought that it was “sissy when Gene Autry sang” infavor of twirling six-shooters and riding his horse. But Burl Ives’ folk songsultimately combined in Elliott the wish of being a cowboy with that of wantingto sing about it, transforming a dreamy kid from Flatbush into a ruggedAmerican cowboy and original folk singing stylist.
By 1951, at thebeginning of a long-lasting friendship, Elliott Adnopoz was rambling andsinging with Woody Guthrie. Having met him briefly once before, Elliott said toGuthrie that his name had changedyes, he was the one who had been introducedto him as “Buck Elliott,” but now it was “Jack.” Woody said, “There’s athousand Jacks for every Buck.” But it was too late. Ramblin’Jack Elliott was the name of Woody Guthrie’s new sidekick.
It’s nooverstatement to say that Elliott underscored Guthrie’s importance and madeDylan possible. By faithfully taking Guthrie’s songs to a wider audience andhaving faith in Dylan, another dreamer (but with ambition and rare artisticvision), Elliott has been lost between two worldsthe venerable old one and thehip new one. Even after the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack, the subjectremains a hidden secret.
Literally thelynchpin in the 1950s for the British skiffle trend and the ’60s folk/bluesrevival in the United States, Elliott still makes outstanding recordings thatdon’t necessarily fall by the wayside but certainly are not as prominent asthey should be, if there is any sense at all to what becomes the standard or,even more outrageously in question, what becomes popular. But there is no sense,here, and perhaps the mystery of this important artist has to do with the factthat he shows up when he feels like it and does so later than expected. With The Never-Ending Highway we now have noexcuse for missing him. Within this important book we have a complete historyof an era, of a musical tradition. Ramblin’ Jack was not only there, but wasone of its significant instigators. Guthrie often said that Elliott performedhis songs better than he did. And in his autobiography, Dylan finally admits thathe took everything with which he began from Elliott. Ramblin’ Jack is more thanlikely at a rodeo right now and will not promote himself, though he haspromoted all that is American folk song tradition, old and new. He is asinvisible as the strangest characters in folk song narratives, haunting ourimagination with nameless importance and devout spirit. He is the song morethan the singer.
