Sings Songs of Woody Guthrie [Import]

Ramblin' Jack Elliott | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 28, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Monitor Records
• ASIN: B00000101E
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,211 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Do-Re-Mi

2. Dead Or Alive

3. Grand Coulee Dam

4. Dust Storm Disaster

5. I Ain't Got No Home

6. So Long, It's Been Good To Know You

7. 'T' For Texas (Blue Yodel No.1)

8. Waitin' For a Train

9. Jimmie The Kid

10. Mother, The Queen Of My Heart

11. In The Jailhouse Now

12. Whippin' That Old T.B.

13. Rusty Jiggs And Sandy Sam

14. Git Along Little Dogies

15. Sadie Brown

16. Night Herding Song

17. Chisholm Trail

18. Fifteen Cents And A Dollar

19. Rocky Mountain Belle

20. Talking Blues

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

This 24-song CD is spellbinding for the different styles and approaches that Elliott takes to the three distinct bodies of work (drawn from two separate LPs) contained within. His covers of a half-dozen Woody Guthrie songs emphasize his vocals and their expressiveness, with the accompaniment subordinate to the singing. The Jimmie Rodgers stuff, by contrast, shows off some very attractive playing by all concerned, with wonderfully smooth guitar and fiddle work, and a very fine produced sound. The two sets of six songs sound very dissimilar to each other -- Elliott has more of a drawl on the Guthrie material and a fine yodel on the Rodgers songs. And then the Western songs show off another, more rudimentary sound -- Elliott's voice has more of a twang here, and the playing is, once again, usually somewhat subordinate to the singing. Elliott and his producers were careful to juxtapose contrasting songs, so that the bracing Western swing-style number "Sadie Brown," with its jaunty fiddle, is followed by the haunting, unaccompanied "Night Herding Song," highlighted by Elliott's glorious near-falsetto yodel. Also in contrast to the Rodgers and Guthrie songs, the cowboy songs show almost no use of stereo separation. These versions have a beguiling air of authenticity despite their being recorded long after the point they were written -- on "Jack O' Diamonds," in particular, Elliott compares favorably with Tex Ritter (who turned the song into a hit as "Rye Whiskey"), complete with the alcoholic whooping and hollering that helped make Ritter's version so beguiling and endearing. Elliott covers at least three styles here, with little overlap; it's more than one hour of excellent material that's the equal of any of his various best-of compilations from different labels. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly my cup of tea, but pretty interesting, December 28, 2006

By 

Marcus Aurelius (PA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sings Songs of Woody Guthrie (Audio CD)

I was never into Ramblin' Jack, and I wanted this for the few tracks that Alexis Korner plays nearly unheard in the background. Strangely enough, it sounds just fine. Let's face it, Jack only thinks he's Woody or Jimmie, but at least he had the sense to pull it off.