4/5: Country-folk legend Ramblin' Jack Elliott returns with an introspective new album that tackles such lofty themes as aging, dying and opium dens.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is as much a social anthropologist as he is a musician. His albums rarely contain any original compositions. Instead, for more than fifty years, he has helped to identify the essential songs of North American folk music. In the process, he has rescued countless songs from obscurity.
I Stand Alone (Anti- Records), Elliott's most recent album, continues this tradition by reworking such songs as the Carter Family's "Engine 143," 1940's pop legend Hoagy Carmichael's "Hong Kong Blues," and Leadbelly's "Jean Harlow." The Brooklyn Cowboy's signature guitar picking and raspy voice breathe new life into these classic songs, instilling each note with the hard-won optimism of someone who has seen it all and survived to spin the yarns.
Despite the rich underlying hopefulness that colors all of Elliot's music, I Stand Alone comes across as an intensely retrospective album. The 75-year-old musician approaches the subjects of aging and dying in a myriad of ways, with many of the record's highlights appearing in the form of songs that address these universal fears.
For example, on Butch Hawes' "Arthritis Blues," the wry tone of Elliott's voice thinly conceals a sense of vulnerability that comes with growing old and finding oneself at the mercy of doctors and a wide assortment of drugs, both prescribed and those found in the bar or on the street.
In addition, Elliott's rendition of the honky-tonk classic "Driving Nails in My Coffin" shows the old master at his finest. His intricate, playful guitar work, coupled with the song's booze-soaked lyrics, inspires listeners to stomp their feet and shed bitter tears at the same time.
Finally, this album is special within Elliott's catalogue, if only because it contains an original track. "Woody's Last Ride" is a haunting, spoken-word recollection of the last time he saw his mentor, Woody Guthrie. In the background, a heavy bass line resonates as Elliott chuckles at how they once drove across the United States on only eleven dollars and change.
I Stand Alone is classic Ramblin' Jack. This album is full of boxcars, liquor, brawls and good old-fashioned heartache-elements that are all essential in creating an extraordinary folk-country album. Listening to his voice crack and moan its way through the high notes, it is easy to see that he possesses a stark, unabashed love of music. For this reason alone, his songs will always have an audience.
