CD Review

Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Country Style / At the Second Fret
(Prestige International 1962, Fantasy 1999)

This double re-issue CD, a total of 25 tracks, is a bargain for lovers of Jack Elliott. Modeling himself on Woody Guthrie, Elliott gives us raw, unadorned performances making everything he sings sound like a folk song, even work by contemporaries like Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, W. Guthrie, and Leadbelly. The first album is a studio recording, and includes classics like "Wabash Cannonball" "The Wreck of the Old '97" and "Tennessee Stud." The second is a live recording from the Second Fret in Philadelphia. It includes "Mule Skinner Blues," "Boll Weevil," "Salty Dog" and "Rock Island Line" as well as "Talking Miner" and "Talking Sailor." Elliott's ability to combine Tin Pan Alley, country songs, traditional songs, protest songs and blues into a single, distinctively American voice makes this work important. He's a one man crucible.