Most people have never heard of Jack Elliott, and the few who have probably don’t know much about him.  An intriguing new documentary called The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack does a fine job telling Elliott’s story to its viewers, but the person who learns the most about him is the film’s director – who just happens to be Ramblin’ Jack’s daughter.

Ramblin’ Jack portrays Elliott as a disorganized, irresponsible man with no parental skills.  Daughter/director Aiyana Elliott grew up with her mom, while her dad was constantly on the road.  You might get the impression that she’s only making this film to finally spend some quality time with her father, and parts of Ramblin’ Jack play remarkably similar to the scenes in Almost Famous where young William Miller tries to get Stillwater’s enigmatic guitarist Russell Hammond to sit down for an interview.  Elliott is just as evasive, always finding something to distract him from Aiyana’s questions about the past.

In addition to being a neglectful dad, Elliott also happens to be a living folk legend.  A protégé of Woody Guthrie, Elliott was an extremely fast flat-picker who began performing in New York’s Washington Square Park and, ultimately, influenced the likes of Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan.  In fact, Dylan was often criticized for sounding too much like Elliott, and his early shows were billed as The Son of Jack Elliott.

Elliott looks, sounds and acts like a tough, dusty cowboy who could herd cattle in his sleep, so finding out that Elliott is the son of a Jewish doctor from Brooklyn is kind of like realizing that the imported lager you’re drinking was bottled in New Jersey.  Born Elliott Adnopoz in 1931, Elliott never thought about following in his pop’s footsteps, instead falling in love with The Grand Ole Opry radio program.  When Gene Autry’s rodeo came to Madison Square Garden, Elliott found his true calling.  He ran away from home at 16 to join a rodeo, where he learned to play the guitar from a rodeo clown.

Finding limited success musically in the U.S., Elliott took off for England – a country in the midst of a folk craze populated by marginally talented “skiffle” bands.  Elliott’s authentic brand of down-home folk tunes from America’s heartland took England by storm, and he sold out shows and recorded several popular albums there.  Six years later, Elliott came back to the States as somewhat of a mysterious legend. Fans had heard his albums and knew that he was a close friend of Woody, but they had never seen the cowboy in action.

Ramblin’ Jack is really two films – one a straight documentary about a crucial link in American folk music history, and the other a painfully unflinching look at the dysfunctional relationship between a father and his daughter.  As a result, the film runs a little long, and may quickly lose the interest of viewers who aren’t folk fans.  It’s a very interesting look at the life of a very interesting figure.

The film, which won awards at the Sundance and San Francisco Film Festivals, is cobbled together from two years of recent footage from Elliott’s seemingly endless cross-country touring and vintage performances from the ‘60s and ‘70s (including a 1969 appearance on the Johnny Cash Show that took place two weeks before Aiyana was born), as well as an incredibly impressive amount of home movie footage - not just from Aiyana’s youth, but Jack’s, too.  There are also numerous interviews with family members (including two ex-wives), friends and folk icons like Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and Kris Kristofferson.

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