Ramblin' Jack Elliott

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This article is about a U.S. folk performer. For the song writer "Jack Elliott", see John Elliott (song writer).

For the English folk singer, see Jack Elliott of Birtley.

Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz, August 1, 1931) is an American folk performer.

Originally from New York, Elliott grew up in a Jewish family and had always wanted to be a cowboy. He ran away from home as a teenager and joined a rodeo in an attempt to fufill his childhood dream. He started learning to play the guitar at this point and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student.

With banjo player Derroll Adams, he later toured Great Britain and Europe and had a lasting effect on the music scene there. By 1960, he had made six folk albums for the British label, Topic. Playing in the small clubs and pubs of London by day, he would then take his act to the smart, west end night clubs. Upon arriving back in the U.S., Elliott discovered he had become a mythical hero within the folk/country scene.

Elliott's greatest influence was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's son, Arlo, has said that because of his dad's illness and early death, he never really got to know him. Arlo acknowledged that he learned his dad's songs and musical style through Elliott.

Elliott's musical style influenced Bob Dylan so heavily that Dylan's first gig in New York City was billed as "Son of Jack Elliott." While Dylan rose to prominence through his compositions, Elliott continued as an interpretive troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in an idiosyncratic manner.

Jack Elliott's style is distinctive in its use of excellent guitar technique matched with laconic, humorous storytelling and an emotional intensity in the singing.

Elliott's nickname is due not to his travel habits, but rather to the countless stories he would relate before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer Odetta claims that it was her mother who gave him the name by remarking, "Oh Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!"

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