Friends of Mine by Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Friends of Mine

Available from Amazon
Usually ships in 24 hours

Friends of Mine

Features

Audio CD (March 17, 1998)

Original Release Date: March 17, 1998

Number of Discs: 1

Label: Hightone Records

Catalog Number: 8089

Amazon.com
The spirit of Woody Guthrie lives on in Ramblin' Jack Elliot, a folk legend in his own right who got his start in the late '40s. A half century later, Elliott still lives in a parallel universe where Dylan (a one-time student of his) refused to go electric and Elvis never mattered. Friends of Mine is a collection of low-fi duets with Emmylou Harris, Tom Waits, John Prine, Rosalie Sorrels, and Bob Weir. But the album isn't so much about Elliott's famous pals as it is about songs that refuse to die: Joe Ely's "Me and Billy the Kid," Dylan's "The Walls of Red Wing," and even more grizzled standards like "Hard Travelin'" and "Riding Down the Canyon." Stripped of the Dead's hippie caravan, even "Friend of the Devil" sounds like something two itinerant musicians might have played on a '20s street corner. The only misstep is the shamelessly sentimental "Bleeker Street Blues." Written by Elliott when he heard Dylan was ailing in 1997, it exists mostly for the names it drops: Joni Mitchell, Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, and even that avatar of folk, Eddie Van Halen. --Keith Moerer

Reader Reviews
This disc isn't exactly country, it isn't exactly western and it isn't exactly folk. It's a good buy, the only sour note comes from the last track; it isn't even a song.

Back To Top