Ramblin' Jack Elliott
From Wikinfo
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is a itinerant folksinger renouned for his creativity. He is said to have lived what others only sang about. He was born Elliot Charles Adnopoz on August 1, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. At 14 inspired by Gene Autry and the Madison Square Garden rodeo he joined a traveling rodeo. After his parents offered a $500 dollar reward he was retrieved and finished high school and made a few stabs at college, but was seen more frequently in New York's Greenwich Village.
In 1951 he was befriended by Woody Guthrie and hung out with Guthrie's family for two years. He traveled with Guthrie for the next few years and was introduced to the bohemian Topanga Canyon area near Las Angeles. There he met and married June Hammerstein, a young actress who had England on her agenda.
In England from 1954 to 1958 Ramblin' Jack's style of picking and singing influenced many musicians. He was realitively successful as a folk singer, performing at one point at a party for Princess Margaret. He returned to the US in 1958, but as an unknown in the American scene, returning to England in 1959 where he toured on the folk music circuit.
His style began changing from imitation of Woody Guthrie to a blues style inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson and Jimmy Rodgers. By the early 1960s the folk music scene had developed in America and Ramblin' Jack returned to good reviews.
