Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: A Stranger Here

DVDfever.co.uk – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: A Stranger Here CD reviewElly Roberts reviews

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: A Stranger HereDistributed by
Anti-Records

• Released: April 2009
• Rating: 8/10
• Vote and comment on this album:View Comments

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Moody blues from Guthrie’s protégé.

Destiny’s a strange thing. As a kid in Brooklyn, Jack Elliott wanted to be a cowboy.

This dream came from seeing rodeos at Madison Square Garden. After home pressure to become a doctor like his dad, he legged-it to join the then-famous J. E. Rodeo, aged 15.Wouldn’t you know it, he was only with them for three months before Ma and Pa tracked him down and packed him off home.What happened in that three months changed young Jack’s destiny.

It wasn’t the gee gees after all. There he met a singing cowboy who did what singing cowboys do – play guitar, banjo as well. Some cowboy.Back home he took up guitar, teaching himself. He soon embarked on a kind of busking career.

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What happened next would take him to a different level altogether. He hooked up with Woody Guthrie no less. Hanging with Woody as a student and mentor proved essential in his development, resulting in an idiosyncratic style that prevails today. His Rambling Jack tag seems to begin around 1959, possibly after his duo days with Derroll Adams as the The Rambling BoysIn the early part of this century he was pretty quite in recording terms, then came 2006’s I Stand Alone and now A Stranger Here, both on Anti Records.

It’s very fitting (Recession and all that) that voice-tattered Jack should delve into this tracklisting of the Depression era of his birth, i.e. pre-WW11 blues songs, suggested by producer Joe Henry.Together they bring the standards by country-bluesmen Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie Johnson and Charley Patton to a new audience through updated renditions.

Blind Lemon Jefferson’s Rising High Water Blues from 1927, tells the sad story of the catastrophic great Mississippi flood of that year which Elliott captures the scene with a keen sense of tragedy –“ Children stand there screaming : mama , we ain’t got no home / Oh, mama we got no home / Papa says to the children, ‘backwater left us all alone’.”The most depressing song is Rev. Gary Davis’ spiritual lament Death Don’t Have No Mercy, though Elliott tries to raise its spirit (ouch!).

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One of the main highlights is the stirring Texas blues of Soul Of A Man by Blind Willie Johnson. The steel guitar treatment is nothing short of stunning, as is Elliott’s handling of the probing lyrics.As neat and tidy as Richland Women Blues is, it’s no match for the classic simple acoustic original by Mississippi John Hurt.

On Grinnin’ In Your Face by Son House, Elliott adopts a hangdog approach to the lyrical content, and music is reflective of the sad lyrics about finding true friendship and support, even from family members.The next two – Tampa Red’ s The Strangers Blues and Falling Down Blues by Furry Lewis, Elliott goes for simple acoustic led template.

The latter is a peculiar combination of celebration and lamentation, and his ramblin’ lazy tone is at its best here.Having said that, he really surpasses himself on Leroy Carr’s love lament How Long? The band swings deep and low, sugared by some masterful steel guitar work, capturing the true spirit of southern blues.

The verdict – Great.

Weblink:ramblinjack.com

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The full list of tracks included are :

1. Rising High Water Blues
2. Rambler’s Blues
3. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
4. Soul Of A Man
5. Richland Women Blues
6. Grinnin’ In Your Face
7. The New Strangers Blues
8. Falling Down Blues
9. How long Blues
10. Please Remember MeView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

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