Elliott Charles Adnopoz – better known as Ramblin’ Jack Elliot – turns 93 on August 1, 2024. According to legend, the sobriquet of Ramblin’ originated with a visit to the folk singer Odetta. According to Elliott, “I knocked, and the door opened a crack.” It was Odetta’s mother who answered. “I heard her say, ‘Odetta, Ramblin’ Jack is here.’ I adopted it right away.”
The Ramblin’ One still lives up to his nickname. Arlo Guthrie told Rolling Stone back in 2009, “I’ve known him for close to my whole life, and I’ve never heard the same story twice. It wasn’t until I was older when I realized that ‘ramblin’ was not a geographical name.” Ask him a question and you will get more than you were looking for.
Ramblin’ Jack was among the ten Solo Living Artists inducted into the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame over the weekend of April 19 and 20, 2024. Like fellow inductee Willie Nelson, he has been telling his stories and singing his songs for decades and decades. His stories are based on his real life adventures starting when he left home at 15 in 1946. He told fellow American Blues Scene writer Don Wilcock he left because he did not want to become a doctor like his father.
“I didn’t like the smell of ether. I didn’t like the sound of babies crying. I didn’t like anything at all about being a doctor,” he said. He did admire his father’s ability to handle all that, though.
Ramblin’ Jack has amassed a treasure trove of stories over the decades and it doesn’t take much to bring one to mind. For example, during an interview with The New York Times two years ago he was trying to decide what to have for breakfast. He recalled that “(s)ome of the best oatmeal I ever had was in the L.A. County Jail” back in 1955.
And then there is the time he was asked about meeting Bob Dylan for the first time: “I met Bob when Woody (Guthrie) was in the hospital. He was this funny little kid. He told me he had all my recordings. He rattled off the names of all the songs I did on those albums. I didn’t remember them myself. He was kinda weird, and a lot of people were making noises about what a terrible voice he had. He did have kind of a screechy voice. But he was like a son to me.”
Ramblin’ Jack is one of the last 1950s era folk music revivalists. He hung out and was friends with Woody Guthrie, mentored Bob Dylan, performed with Phil Ochs, John Prine, Long John Baldry, and countless others, been recorded by Alan Lomax, and was friends with Jack Kerouac. He was instrumental in bringing Arlo Guthrie and his tale of “Alice’s Restaurant” to the public’s attention.
Young Arlo was making a name for himself in the New York City folk scene and Bob Fass, host of the overnight “Radio Unnamable” program on WBAI wanted him as a guest. Fass was a pioneer of the free-form radio format and his regular guests included Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Abbie Hoffman, and Allen Ginsberg. Fass was having trouble convincing Arlo to appear on his show so he turned to mutual acquaintance Ramblin’ Jack for help. Arlo appeared on the show sometime after midnight on February 27, 1967, and sang “Alice’s Restaurant” on the radio for the very first time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Unlike many other FARHOF inductees, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot is not known for his songwriting. He is well regarded and respected for his interpretation of songs written by others, including “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Roll On Buddy,” “Tennessee Stud,” and the instrumental “Black Snake Moan.” He claims Bob Dylan wrote “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” for him.
One of the few songs Ramblin’ Jack wrote was “Bleeker Street Blues” for Dylan after the latter was hospitalized with severe chest pains from histoplasmosis, a fungal infection. Other notable songs he wrote are “912 Greens” and “Cup Of Coffee.”
Though songwriting is not his forte, Ramblin’ Jack has one two Grammy Awards, the second one for his 2009 album A Stranger Here, a collection of traditional blues songs from such luminaries as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Son House.
About winning a Grammy, he told Don Wilcock, “I don’t think of it as being anything real or a part of my life or anything like ‘I’m a Grammy winner, and I’m gonna go and try and win another one.’ … It’s a lot of fun going to the Grammys. I’ve been five times now, (but) I don’t think I would miss it if I didn’t get to go again.”
Also unlike many other FARHOF inductees, commercial success seems to have eluded Ramblin’ Jack. It does not appear to have bothered him. Aiyana Elliott, his daughter, says, “He lives quite modestly, a lot of people don’t realize just how modestly. But I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone so rich in friends.”
Health and travel limitations have forced Ramblin’ Jack Elliott to cancel some upcoming shows. He has been slowed by health concerns in the past. He’s recovered from triple bypass surgery and two “little strokes” that left him unable to play the guitar for about a week. His hearing is assisted by small aids. So we hope he has a speedy recovery.
We are still hungry for the stories he has to tell.
Next up – Mavis Staples
