Here's the set list, while I still remember it (real men don't write 'em down):

FIRST SET
San Francisco Bay Blues
Ridin' Down the Canyon
Michigan Water Blues
Call Me a Dog
Talkin' Fishin'
Freight Train Blues
South Coast
Me & Bobbie McGee
Danville Girl

SECOND SET
Michigan Water Blues
Hard Travelin'
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Low and Lonely (with Rick Robbins)
Tramp on the Street (with Rick Robbins)
This Land is Your Land

Concert review to follow, when I have time...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Club Passim
Cambridge, Massachusetts
July 8, 2004

First Set:
1. Intro
2. Ramblin': Willie, Kris, & Merle / Mic Adjustments
3. San Francisco Bay Blues
4. Ramblin': Kris Kristofferson / First Advertising Slogan
5. Ridin' Down The Canyon
6. Ramblin': Bob Dylan
7. I Threw It All Away
8. Ramblin': Water & Air / Bob Dylan Revisited
9. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
10. Ramblin': Henry David Thoreau / Phil Ochs
11. The Ballad Of Pretty Boy Floyd
12. Ramblin': Whiskey / Great White Sharks / Sea Shanties
13. Yankee Clipper
14. Ramblin': Sailing
15. Talkin' Sailor

Second Set:
1. Intro
2. Goodnight Irene
3. Ramblin': Woody Guthrie & Okemah / The Current Tour
4. Salt Pork, West Virginia
5. Ramblin': Air Conditioning
6. Arthritis Blues
7. Ramblin': Vertical Lines / Roy Rogers / Smoking
8. "The Audience Participation Segment"
9. Ramblin': Willie Nelson
10. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
11. Ramblin': Willie Nelson / Pigmania / John Denver
12. Tumbling Tumbleweeds
13. Ramblin': Gene Autry / Will James
14. If I Were A Carpenter
15. [Applause / Tuning]
16. Michigan Water Blues
17. Me And Bobby McGee

Thanks for posting that, Hank.

Now, to prove that not only Jack can ramble, the next 2 posts will include my amateur review of the Pittsburgh Club Cafe concert. A couple of you have seen this already on another message board. Here goes...

I MET RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT & RICK ROBBINS!!!

But let's take it in order...

I was torn between seeing this concert & watching the All-Star Game, & I made the right choice. This was my 3rd time seeing Jack in concert & it was by far the best---& the other times were pretty good, too. It was back at Club Cafe, where I'd previously seen Jack as well as Dave Edmunds & Garrison Starr. The front row of tables were filled when we arrived, so we got a table in the 2nd row, dead center, & it was the furthest away I ever sat when there altho' it was only about 10 feet from Jack. My wife, who rarely accompanies me to these types of concerts, came along this time, altho' she was more interested in having dinner there beforehand than in seeing Jack. Yet, when she passed Jack in the hall on the way to the ladies room, he removed his cowboy hat & bowed, so she decided he must be a cool guy.

Like the last time I saw Jack here, he had Rick Robbins come in from MA to bring him a guitar & join him for a couple of duets. It's becoming a Pittsburgh tradition. Jack was wearing a white cowboy hat, brown bandanna, short-sleeved white collarless shirt with a pocket & a tiny logo, blue jeans, & tan cowboy boots. I was wearing my Arlo Motor-Sickle T-shirt, bell bottom jeans, & blue suede shoes.

At every Jack concert, I notice a guitar aficionado in the front row, just watching his fingers work. On this night, I identified her as the woman at the table to our left. To our right, a young man was discreetly taping the show on the World's Smallest Palmcorder, undetected. In front of us were 4 frat boys, who for some reason had a reserved table. The crowd was a mix of the old & the young & the in-between. The other 2 times I saw Jack, he was more in the mood to tell stories than to sing songs, but on this night it was the other way around. As always, the songs had some misplaced instrumental solos & some parts where Jack played an extra chord or two, both apparently occurring while he tried to remember the words. He did pretty good as far as remembering words, cept that some lines were rearranged on "Ridin' Down the Canyon."

If there's a better folk guitarist anywhere, I sure as hell have never seen him. He makes it look so easy. I had followed some of this current tour on line & had read that Jack was coughing a lot & not in good voice. (Of course, his voice isn't what it was years ago, but then again, who cares? This ain't opera!) Yet he was in surprisingly good voice on this night, & on "Danville Girl" & "Freight Train Blues," the latter with some hoots & howls & elongated notes, I swear he sounded like the Vanguard-era Jack. At one point in the show, a woman in the audience who apparently had attended his recent shows shouted, "You found your voice in Pittsburgh, Jack!"

"SF Bay Blues," his traditional opener, was done at a slower tempo than I'd ever heard him do it. "Michigan Water Blues" had some pretty mean blues guitar playing; several times during this song, I saw the Guitar Aficionado nod to her 2 male friends. He sang a verse that is one of my favorites of all-time, altho' I'm pretty sure that it's actually a verse from "Alabama Bound," to wit:

Don't you leave me here
Don't you leave me here
But if you just must go
Leave a dime for beer

On Woody's "Talkin' Fishin'" Jack accidentally sang one verse twice, then, almost Johnny Carson-like, ad-libbed a couple of lines about how he liked the verse so much he sang it twice. "South Coast" was an audience request, recited more than sung, & a good example of how Jack can take a song you've heard 1,000 times & make it uniquely his own.

It's hard to repeat some of Jack's stories on a message board coz they're long & usually have no point, but there were a few comical events I can describe here. Early in the 1st set, Jack asked the guy at the board for more bass, strummed his guitar, & said, "No, I meant my voice. Make me sound more like Johnny Cash & less than Tiny Tim." Jack didn't drink anything but water until the 1st set was almost over, when a fan bought him a mixed drink & set it on the stool next to him. Jack said, "No, I can't drink anything with ice. Bad for my vocal chords. What is this?" When told it was Jack Daniels, Jack said, "I can't drink Jack Daniels." As the fan frowned & took the drink away, Jack said, "I can drink Jim Beam!"

Continued next post..

Jack opened the 2nd set with "Michigan Water Blues," apparently forgetting that he had done that one earlier, even including the "don't you leave me here" verse & saying the same stuff about how much he liked Jelly Roll Morton. I once read where Jack said that since Woody died, only he (Jack) can sing "Hard Travelin'" correctly, i.e., as tho' he had actually done some hard travelin'. No argument here. The line about "workin' at Pittsburgh Steel" always draws a loud cheer around these here parts.

"Don't Think Twice" is my all-time favorite acoustic guitar song, & nobody, including Bob Dylan himself, plays it better than Jack. Jack told the story that we've all heard 100 times about how he learned the song in a snowed-in cabin in Allentown, PA & then sang it in public for the 1st time at the Gas Light with the author himself in the audience.

At about this time, a woman who had to leave early apologized & thanked Jack for a good time, & Jack talked to her briefly from the stage. When she mentioned she had to pick up her kids, Jack said, "Thank the kids for lettin' you out tonight!" As she exited, Jack made a funny face that indicated he may have had some romantic interest there until she mentioned kids.

Rick Robbins finally joined him for duets on "Low and Lonely" & "Tramp on the Street," just like the last time I saw them. This was a highlight. Jack asked Rick to tell some Arlo stories, but my take on Rick after seeing him twice with Jack is that he's a nice guy who doesn't wanna upstage Jack. He smiled & said simply that Arlo is the most shy person in the world until he gets up in front of 10,000 people.

At 10:00, Jack said he had time for one more song & noted that it would be Woody's birthday in 2 hours & that he should finish with a Woody song. One of the Frat Boys suggested "This Land is Your Land." Jack said that he hadn't sung that in 20 years & was kinda tired of it but would give it a try. It was cool knowing that I was about to see something rare. His version was at the same slower tempo as Woody's. Jack needed help remembering how the 2nd verse started, but after completing it started over & urged everybody to sing along so he could tell Pete Seeger that he had done at least one sing-along. After the sing-along, Jack strummed his guitar a little faster & repeated the "Hard Travelin'" verse about Pittsburgh Steel, & then said good night to a long, loud, enthusiastic standing ovation. This was one heck of a show, hugh betcha.

Afterward, I spotted Jack sitting in a corner in an enclosed area where the sound board is, talking to 2 fans, so we decided to walk over & shake hands & talk to him for a minute. Up close, with his glasses on, he reminded me of Marlins manager Trader Jack McKeon. Jack was looking for a good bar to hang out in for the rest of the night, but I'm past the point where I know where the good bars are, altho' I coulda directed him to an Italian restaurant. We also stopped to say hello to Rick on the way out. He was at a table selling CD's. I told him I bought his first one & about our exchange of letters when I wrote the check wrong. Surprisingly, he remembered that & enthusiastically showed me his new CD, running down the song selections & the impressive list of guest musicians. I promised to buy it on line (& I will), but I had spent all of my cash on dinner. Both Jack & Rick signed my ticket.

We were heading home listening to the All-Star Game on the car radio. When we were a block away from home, Pirate SS "Jumpin' Jack Flash" Wilson had just entered the game, so we rushed in the house just in time. I got to see both Jacks that I wanted to see on this evening. Life was good.

And that's it, probably more than you care to know....

Joe, thanks for that detailed and amazing review of the Pittsburgh show! Sadly, Ramblin' Jack played too far out of my geographic circle this year. So I was unable to catch him in concert this "Mud Season," but I've already warned my wife and children that next year I'm dedicating at least a week of my precious vacation time from work to following a stretch of Jack Elliott's 2005 east coast ramble (this was not a decision that was met with much enthusiasm from the kinfolk, I might add). Joe, I agree, Jack's an amazing guitar player in the sense that he's so totally grounded in American folk and blues guitar playing styles and yet somehow sounds like no one else but himself - which is no mean feat! I'm sad that I missed Jack's Club Cafe gig, I should have taken a sick day from work and made the trek to Pittsburgh. Oh well, I'll try to console myself with the knowledge that I've three Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson gigs in August and a four-pak of Arlo in November... Still, missing Ramblin' Jack on one of his infrequent trips out east is tough! If you folks don't mind a little commercial, the UK based Dylan-centric magazine THE BRIDGE is in the midst of running my three part series on Ramblin' Jack "Appearing Now - Son Of Jack Elliott: Ramblin' Round with Jack Elliott, Woody Guthrie & Bob Dylan." Parts One and Two have already been published, Part Three should run in the next issue. Info here:

http://www.two-riders.co.uk/eighteena.html

Joe, once again, thanks for the great review! Hey, if the guy with the Sony Palmcorder is reading this, drop me a line!

Thanks for the kind words, Hank. Seems you're familiar with Club Cafe? Were you in attendance at the 5/2/02 Ramblin' Jack concert there, the last time I saw Jack?

If you're ever in Pittsburgh for a Jack concert, let me know & we can say hello there. I generally go alone when I see him. Jack's music isn't my wife's cup of tea, & I know about 4 people in Pittsburgh who even know who Jack is, & 3 of 'em heard about him from me & the other one doesn't spend his money on concerts.

Joe, not only have I never been to the Club Cafe, but I've never even been to Pittsburgh (did drive through it once though). But I know some RJE friends and fellow fans who have seen him there over the past few years and speak highly of the venue. Jack always seems to play there mid-week though which makes it almost impossible for me to get there and back without having to juggle baby-sitting, dog-sitting and work schedules. Maybe next year... If there are enough Ramblin' Jack fans on this Arlo board, maybe we can keep this thread going to share info, stories, tapes, tour dates, set lists, discography info etc. One thing I've always thought was really cool was that anytime Arlo is featured in some guitar magazine article, he always name checks Jack as an influence without fail... In the August 1971 issue of Guitar Player magazine Arlo was asked "Who do you think had possibly the greatest musical influence on you?" Arlo replied: "Oh, Ramblin' Jack Elliott probably more than anyone else. Ramblin' Jack as far as pickin' and especially singing." Years later in issue #24 (1997) of Guitar World Acoustic magazine, Arlo was asked "You occasionally play in your dad's style, which I have heard described as a 'modified Carter Family pick.' How'd you learn to play in that style?" To which Arlo replied "From Ramblin' Jack Elliott. He could play in many styles, but he could really imitate my dad. He was like a myna bird. He could imitate him to the point where my dad said 'He sounds more like me than I do..."

It always seemed to me that besides influencing how Arlo plays, Arlo may not have had a bigger source of songs than Ramblin' Jack. If one checks out Jack's discography at http://www.ramblinjack.com/cds.html, one can find about 2 dozen songs, easily, that Arlo recorded after Jack did, even some surprising selections like "Connection" or "Guabi Guabi." I've always found that interesting.

In an article published in the April 1984 issue of Esquire magazine ("On The Trail Of Ramblin' Jack Elliott" by Randy Sue Coburn), the writer muses on this very subject when she recounts Jack's travels through Europe in the mid 1950s:

(Elliott) toured Europe on and off for six years, the first real live American folk singer the vast majority of his audiences had ever heard, let alone seen. He introduced (Woody) Guthrie's material abroad and, with an expanded repertoire of some two hundred songs, established his own identity, spreading the word with an effect that sometimes approached the evangelical... So successful was Elliott in outstepping Guthrie's shadow that when Arlo Guthrie toured Europe for the first time, he had to outstep Elliott. "I'd written enough songs for fifteen minutes in a set,' Arlo says, 'and I did my dad's songs for thirty. All the rest were songs that Jack had recorded that had nothing to do with Dad. Everywhere I went, people would say, 'Oh, that's great - you know Jack Elliott songs.'"

I found the following site with a better Ramblin' Jack discography than the one on his official site (the link I provided earlier in this thread). It's got EVERYTHING & is recommended for fans, or even nonfans who are nostalgic & like to look at old album covers or 45 sleeves.

http://www.wirz.de/music/elliofrm.htm

Hank and Joe - thanks so much for your info and recollections. Unfortunately, I have missed Jack this year due to my schedule and his. Jack (along with Pete Seeger) is one of the last few active genuine folk artists from the Post-Almanac years.



Would love to hear of additional setlists, tapes, etc. as well. I did convince a friend of mine (who is a Fan of Jack's through Bob Dylan) to go see him on July 15th in Ohio and he was smart enough to record it! I'll post the setlist here after I receive the show and probably offer up a Freebie or two. (Hank your copy is automatic)

I was lucky enough last year to see Jack at The Church and see him play with Sarah Lee and Arlo (as well as Rick). It was about as close to Woody as you can get!

Would love to hear more RJE stories from others; Hank, when are you writing the Jack Bio?

Christian

Hi, Sherlock! Always good to hear from fans of Ramblin' Jack. Given his influence on Arlo (discussed here earlier), I'm often shocked at how many Arlo fans that I know have such little interest in hearing Jack.

Looking for other set lists, you say? Here's another that I posted of Jack's 5/2/02 concert here, altho' I couldn't identify one of the songs had my life depended on it.

http://p074.ezboard.com/ffolkies61719frm22.showMessage?topicID=2.topic

Hey, I just returned from a week long vacation with the wife and kids down at the Jersey shore. Incidentally, Arlo’s Power Of Love album is my favorite “week at the beach” CD with it’s beautifully distinctive island feel and its gentle, reggae rhythms. Is it my imagination or is Power Of Love somewhat of an anomaly among Arlo’s Warner Brothers albums? There’s certainly no other official album in Arlo’s canon that’s quite like it; a damn near perfect blend of song-craft, high-gloss production and beautifully executed instrumental backing. Power Of Love is not the first album I’d steer the novice Arlo fan in seeking out as it’s not very atypical or representative of Arlo’s particular gifts, but it’s a musical gem for those already smitten with his recorded works. Anyway, when I finally got a chance to log onto arlonet to catch up on all the news I found – to my delight and surprise - that the Ramblin’ Jack thread was still unwinding. This is great! Joe, I read your 2002 Ramblin’ Jack review from that folkie message board link that you posted and laughed out loud when I read the following:

Jack does a lot of talking & tells some looooong stories. His stories are funny, & he had the audience in stitches all night. I wish I could repeat some, but they aren't quite about anything & have no point, & he never quite finishes them…

and…

(Ramblin’ Jack’s) best line (that night) was "Bob Dylan's songs mean different things to different people, & nothing to Bob."

Great stuff! OK, onto “new business.” Just as 32 Cents has taken on the status as the “great, lost” Arlo Guthrie album, I recalled reading an article published by Chris Jorgensen in a record collecting monthly (DISCoveries, October 1990) that discussed a now “lost” but then in-progress recording venture of Jack Elliott’s (with Guthrie family input). As it has been fourteen or more years since the sessions for this Jack Elliott LP have reportedly taken place, any surviving plans (or actual tapes) for this aborted album have - presumably - been forgotten and/or abandoned. Perhaps, someday, these tapes might be worthy of being located, dusted off and put out on the Rising Son label someday?

Question: It sounds like you’ll be taking a traditional turn with your new studio album…
Jack: The new studio album is with a company called Lomon Records. It’s owned by a family called the Moodey Family. The Moodey Family are some real top-notch bluegrass pickers from North Carolina, headquartered in Charlotte.
Question: Have you picked a title for it?
Jack: No. We haven’t even got a picture for the cover or anything. It’s still very much in the planning stages. It’s been dragging on for a year now. It’s been real slow. But the two weeks in the studio were broken with at least one moment of excitement. That’s when Jackie Guthrie came down – she’s the producer – (and) Arlo’s wife. She came down during a very busy week when her sister was getting married up at Arlo’s farm. But she broke loose from that to fly down and spend a couple of days.
Question: Do the Moodeys’ play on the record?
Jack: They’re going to back me up on instrumentals. They spent a couple of days with Jackie recently and she called me back and told me that Arlo didn’t like any of the old stuff that I did and that I was singing in the wrong key – and he particularly didn’t like the way I was singing some of Woody Guthrie songs like “Oklahoma Hills.” It’s always been one of my favorites, but I must admit that Arlo does such a fantastic job of “Oklahoma Hills” that he really does beat me on it… and (Arlo) knows what he’s talking about…
Question: Have you heard the tapes?
Jack: I haven’t heard it yet, so I don’t know if it’s good or not. I’m looking forward to getting a promo here in the mail as soon as Christmas and New Years dies down a bit and they let the mail through.
Question: So are we going to hear some Woody Guthrie songs on the new studio record?
Jack: Well, yeah, I guess, if Arlo doesn’t give me too much of a hard time about it. I would like to include one or two of my favorite Woody Guthrie tunes.
Question: Do you think he’ll (Arlo) would object?
Jack: See, of all of Woody’s sons, Arlo is definitely the best renditioner of Woody Guthrie songs. But I think I too am one of the world’s greatest singers of Woody Guthrie’s songs. Not to be boastful or anything, but I haven’t heard anybody sing Woody Guthrie songs to my liking…

OK, northeastern U.S. seaboard Ramblin' Jack Elliott fans... This is just in:
RALPH STANLEY & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS/
RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT
04/09/05 Bardavon 1869 Opera House, Poughkeepsie, NY
04/10/05 Hart Theater, Albany, NY
Should we start planning the road trip now?