Ramblin' Jack Information

Everybodys dying this year, says folk icon Ramblin Jack Elliott. It seems like a week doesnt go by without some beloved musician dying. The 85-year-old folk finger-pickers morbid observation is prompted when the subject of Leonard Cohens recent passing comes up. Elliott, being the infectious, meandering rambler hes been for decades, has many pockets filled with stories involving just about every well-known figure in the arts world. In Cohens case, he tells a quick yarn about the two going out for a Japanese dinner one night in the 70s. While they waited for their food, Cohen decided to do a headstand, matter-of-factly enough, next to his chair, for about 15 minutes. He was studying yoga, Elliott explains. It was difficult for the waiters to get around [Cohen], but they werent going to stop him. Its the first day in a long time that Elliott feels healthy and chipper. Following a 12-city tour spanning 5,000 miles, the folk hero says a mystery cough has kept him bedridden and on prednisone for about a month, but he woke at 6am that morning and strolled through patches of its-good-to-be-alive early-morning fog. Regarded as the son of Woody Guthrie and the father of Bob Dylan, Elliotts a folk musicians folk musician who can also be somewhat elusive, which may be the result of not keeping up with some technological advances. Im very good with old trucks and young horses, but I cannot figure out a computer to save my butt, he admits. That doesnt stop his music from being recorded: Hes released over 40 records, been nominated for five Grammy Awards and brought home two wins, including Best Traditional Blues Album for his distinct rearrangement of old country blues staples on 2009s A Stranger Here. When asked about receiving the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from Folk Alliance International, Elliott instead talks about being one of the 1998 recipients of the National Medal of the Arts, personally awarded by the president of the United States: I got to see the White House, I got to meet Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton ...