It was a real treat to see Elliott, who is now 84 years old. No opening act, no backup musicians--he just emerged, sang and played guitar, told stories and kept the crowd engaged for about an hour. Afterward, he sat down in the Capitol Theater lobby and there was a long line to see him; I got as close as I could on the side just to get a glimpse of him, and then Gina and I went home. I think she chuckled more than I did throughout the performance.
Jack Elliott is certainly the link between Woody Guthrie, whom he hung out with in the 1950s, and Bob Dylan, who shared the stage with Elliott during the former's first year or two in New York. When Guthrie's health was on a sharp decline and the Joe McCarthy red scare was still affecting so many entertainers, Elliott took his repertoire of songs, his cool guitar playing and his affectionately goofy singing to the UK, where he made a huge impact. Back in Rod Stewart's early days, he was quoted as saying he could handle meeting Dylan but would be "awestruck" upon being introduced to Elliott, to recall an
example of how well Elliott was received abroad in the '50s.
He said perhaps his favorite Guthrie song was "Hard Travelin' " and performed a terrific version. The audience seemed to enjoy his tales about Woody ending up in the slammer for drinking ("I think he loved that Olympia ale") but not when he changed New York City to "Yew Nork titty" (twice). That's a type of comment that might be accepted by some in Eastern Washington, but not Olympia.
But the show went down well, as did most of his reminiscings. I'd heard the one about learning "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" in three days ("it usually takes me three months to learn a song," he said); perhaps it's in the documentary film The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (Lot 47 Films), directed by his daughter Aiyana Elliott, which I saw shortly after its release in 2000 in the very same place I was catching Elliott now. He is still a commanding singer and claimed early on that he couldn't see very well, yet when someone got up from the audience midway through a song, Elliott answered "come back, now" without breaking stride.
The music was often wonderful; my only disappointment with the stories was that Elliott mentioned Jerry Jeff Walker a few times (JJW was based in New York, Elliott's home area, and with a band called Circus Maximus before moving to Austin) but didn't go into detail about his relationship with him. What I thought I heard is that he's been in three automobile accidents in his lifetime and they all had something to do with Jerry Jeff.
It was a really fun, relaxed show, although Elliott certainly isn't everyone's cup of meat (to quote Dylan). Said my friend Jim King, "You may know that the Ramblin' Jack moniker has nothing to do with travels."